


Monster

by DarkHououmon



Series: The Chalk Queen's Reign [2]
Category: ChalkZone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-06-10 13:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 57,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15292617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: “Why do you want to talk about this? You never did before. Is it because you’re at a disadvantage? Are you afraid of me now?”





	1. Prologue

When the large creature came crashing down at the ground, he could feel his feet being lifted upwards from the force of the impact. He could feel his body being flung backwards and he landed against the ground painfully. He rolled over a few times before pushing his hands against the ground to get back up. He shook his head before glaring back at the beast.

Crap, he should have been a little faster and quieter. He might have been able to avoid getting this creature’s attention. Now it was too late for that. He stood up the best that he could, his right leg shaky and echoing in pain, not having gotten out of that as well as he had hoped.

Rudy curled his fingers up eagerly as he took a fighting stance. There was little other option for him to do right now. He bared his teeth firmly and let out a series of low growls. He snarled as the beast, a mechanical four-legger lizard, started to make its way towards him. He could see the wheels that made up its joints spinning swiftly and he could see the mechanical mouth opening up, showing off those silvery teeth. Rudy raised up his magic chalk in preparation of a fight.

Rudy managed to get out of the way in time. But he could feel a rush of air hitting against his skin as the metal teeth clamped down towards him. He flinched at how loud the metal clanged together and he struggled to jerk himself back further. He narrowly managed to avoid getting hit by the spikes.

But it would seem that the beast was not yet done with him. Rudy growled lowly as the metal lizard turned itself back towards him, its body twisting almost in a snake-like fashion. Its leg, segmented tail swished about from side to side wildly. It hit up against the nearby buildings and he could hear it scraping against the walls and slashing them partially open. This was when Rudy immediately regretted trying to engage with this thing while he was in some village. Even if it looked evacuated, he still should have attempted to make sure that…

Rudy didn’t have time to finish his thoughts before a sharp pain echoed throughout his body. He could feel himself being rammed painfully into the ground yet again when the beast managed to hit him. He didn’t feel any blood from open gashes, but he was certain he was going to bruise from that.

Groaning, he sat himself back up and rubbed his head firmly. He could feel nausea spreading throughout his body. He had to wonder how many times he had been flipped and twisted about with just one blow. He then tried to get back up. He let out a yelp of pain as he clutched his leg tightly. It felt like the bone inside had been snapped in two, and the whole leg was going stiff. He growled at this.

No, not again… Come on…

Rudy could feel a dark shape moving alone him. He froze where he was, every part of him feeling like it was turning into ice. He could barely get himself to breathe as he slowly turned his head to see what was going on. He felt his mouth opening up slightly, letting his teeth become exposed. He looked up at the beast staring at him so closely, its beaming yellow eyes attempting to melt his soul into ash.

There was nothing that he could do to get out of the way this time around. The metal creature was too close. He could see that it was already opening up its mouth. He could see that the shining teeth were preparing to slice into his flesh. He could see the gears around the creature’s joints spinning around, storing up more and more energy.

And all he could do was just sit there and wait for the creature to make its leap.

Rudy couldn’t help but give a bitter smile at this, releasing a small chuckle. “So..this is how it ends, eh…?” He closed his eyes and lowered his head. “Well done, Penny. Maybe you’ll finally get what you wanted, after all.”

Rudy didn’t want to show fear in the face of what he knew was his oncoming death. He wasn’t going to be able to get away. He could only watch as the metal lizard prepared to release its final, devastating move on him. Rudy straightened himself up and glared at the lizard. He was going to face his death with some dignity. That was something that Penny herself was lacking lately.

Like really, sending out a zoner of her creation out to kill him, instead of fighting him directly herself. She really was a coward, wasn’t she?

Rudy noticed how time all around him seemed to freeze when the metal lizard suddenly jumped into the air. He watched how it appeared to rise up into the sky, legs spread out and claws facing him. He saw that mouth opening up further and he could see the sparkling coils inside. Rudy didn’t even bother to bring out his magic chalk. There would simply be no time.

“Rudy Tabootie! Get out of the way, you idiot!”

Rudy said nothing as he ducked his head downwards. He was not at all surprised to hear something buzzing over his head. He saw something spinning for a breath moment, and then he heard something clang loudly. He lifted his head back up and he could see that the metal lizard had been struck. Its head was disconnected from its body and it collapsed into the ground. The exposed wires sparked a few times before going dead. The lights in the eyes went out, signaling the robot’s death.

The young man stared at this for a few long moments, his mind stinging with the dawning realization of what had almost happened. With no more need of being strong, he allowed himself to shake a little, shedding a few small tears. He hardly responded to the foot falls behind him.

“I can’t believe you just stood there!” The voice called out again. He could hear the edge of the voice sounding almost venom-filled. “If I hadn’t showed up, you would have been dead!”

Rudy forced himself to look behind him. He glared at the red-haired woman, his lip curling up into a partial snarl. “Oh shut up, Terry Bouffant. I would have been fine, anyway.”

Terry scoffed at this, putting her hand to her hip. Her other one held onto the weapon that she had used previously. A large disk with huge blades arching outward, and she was holding it like it was nothing. “Don’t give me that! You and I both know that if I had not been here, you would have been…!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Rudy raised his hand up, stopping her in her tracks. He got himself up onto his feet and he brushed himself off. “We should get going anyway. This mission was a failure.” Rudy proceeded to limp in the direction of the portal they had used earlier.

“So…. So that’s it?! You’re giving up now?!” Terry stared at Rudy with a wide-eyed, shocked expression, as though she seriously believed that Rudy would want to continue forth with this. “You’re not even going to try to…”

Rudy stopped and turned himself around. He folded his arms to his chest and he said, “Do you really think that she would be that stupid?! The mere fact that she sent that thing after us shows that she knows where we are right now and she probably locked herself away in hiding! Not to mention, what we came here for, that beast probably hid it before we came and…”

“All right, I get it! Sheesh, you didn’t need to blow a gasket on me, kid!” Terry growled at Rudy.

This caused the young man to bristle. “Don’t call me ‘kid’...”

Terry just shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever. Yeah, you’re right. We should get out of here.” She gave pause for a moment as she looked around the empty village. She furrowed her eyes in disappointment. “Such a waste…”

Rudy didn’t bother saying to Terry. There was no point. She would just continue to complain if he pressed this on any further. So with a small huff, feelings of disappointment and lingering fear weighing down on his head, he forced himself to keep walking towards the nearby portal.


	2. Years Later

How long has it been since that fateful day? He no longer marked anything to keep track of the time. Even the act of keeping a calendar caused him to freeze up and bring him back to...those times. This left him with a very little sense of time passage. And in a way, that was almost comforting to him.

Though it wasn’t like Aunt Tilly was going to fulfill his request to remove all calendars from the home. He would just cover his eyes whenever he had to pass the one hanging up in the kitchen. He never bothered to tell his aunt just why this was the case. Not even Sophie knew what was wrong. He would prefer it to stay that way.

Rudy had tried his best to shake off the feelings that head dominated his mind ever since he had come back from the failed mission with Terry. They had been trying to find something in ChalkZone that could render Penny, the Chalk Queen, powerless. Something that… Well, neither of them knew what it would actually do. Rudy hardly worried about it at this point. So long as it stopped Penny from continuing to control and terrorize ChalkZone the way that she had, then he was fine.

Rudy furrowed his eyes, unable to believe that he had let his one chance at stopping Penny slip from his fingers. He should have tried harder. He should have been faster. But he only ended up earning her ire and just stepping into ChalkZone now was dangerous for him. Penny was always attempting to kill him whenever he entered, making good on her promise. The only reason why he hadn’t died yet was because of Terry, who acted at his guard whenever he went into that world.

He still had some reservations against Terry and mainly worked with her out of necessity. But she was still more trustworthy than Penny, and he did not feel comfortable with pulling his aunt or cousin into the mix. This was the best that things could get for him at the moment.

He didn’t mention Terry Bouffant around Aunt Tilly or Sophie. And he especially never mentioned Penny Sanchez’s name. They were both still bitter about the fact that Penny was never caught. Aunt Tilly was the most upset by this. As far as she was aware, it was Penny who killed Rudy’s parents, not just her own mother. Rudy wasn’t aware of anything different, and knowing what kind of monster that Penny had become, he wouldn’t be surprised to find out that this was true.

But even if that wasn’t true, even if Penny didn’t kill anyone, he still would have stood against her at this point. She had spread her control across ChalkZone, further than before. Not that it was small by any means. Rudy didn’t even know what her barriers were when he was still her prisoner. But he was well aware that, lately, she’s been spreading her ‘kingdom’ out further, trying to taint whatever she could find.

And that made this situation even more urgent. He was hoping to try to stop her before she reached the point beyond return. Or had she already gotten there? Had she already reached…

No, she couldn’t have. He would have known if she had reached that one particular location. Instead of worrying about what likely didn’t happen yet, he didn’t to focus his attention on preventing it. He still didn’t know how, but if he tried…

“Hey Rudy? Is something troubling you?”

Rudy felt his body jolting a little when he heard a voice calling out for him. He turned his head around to look behind him and he could see Sophie standing right there. Rudy had forgotten that he wasn’t alone in this room. He gave the best smile that he could, feeling bad that he had worried his little cousin so much.

“H-Hey, Soph.. I feel fine… Nothing’s wrong…” That did sound pretty silly, didn’t it? He quickly realized that he was not going to fool Sophie with these words. He could see the look in her eyes, how she was glaring softly at him. This forced him to lower his head and admit, “No, you’re right. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Sophie stared at him for a few long moments before she began to make her way over towards him. Her movements were slow and hesitant, as though she didn’t want to do anything to unnecessarily upset him or anything. She reached out towards him and she placed her hand on his shoulder. “You do realize that we’re here for you, Rudy. If there’s something you need to talk about….”

Rudy nodded his head quickly. “Oh I know! I mean…” Rudy paused to clear his throat for a moment. Then he said, “I do appreciate your concern for me. But you needn’t worry too much. I’ll feel better soon.”

“...you sure?” Sophie asked.

Rudy said, “Yes. I promise.”

Sophie didn’t look entirely convinced by this. There was something about the look in her eyes that told Rudy that she clearly didn’t buy this. But instead of trying to push the topic forward, she just turned herself away and started to make her way towards the door. Rudy felt some pang of guilt at having pushed her away like that. But it did need to be done. There was nothing that Sophie could have done to help him feel better.

Sophie stopped before exiting the door. She stayed like this for several moments, as though something was troubling her. She looked back at where Rudy was and she called out to him, “Dinner is ready, by the way.”

Dinner? Was it really that late already? Rudy quickly looked up at the clock. Indeed, it was getting close to six at night. He hadn’t realized that time flew that fast. Had he and Terry been in ChalkZone for that long? He resisted the urge to slap himself in the face for this, and he forced himself to follow Sophie. He had just realized how hungry that he was.

And besides, he did need some kind of distraction from the recent failure. He wasn’t going to get anything done or feel better if he constantly reminded himself of what happened. And he would much rather not be thinking about….her. His teeth clenched tightly at this for a few moments before he shook his head and cleared his mind the best that he could.

It took him no time at all to join Sophie and Aunt Tilly at the table for dinner. He could already smell and taste the food despite it not being put out in front of him yet. He tried not to salivate too much as he watched his aunt bring the plates over, expertly holding all of them on herself despite it looking impossible. Before long, he and his two family members had the plates of food situated in front of them, ready to be eaten.

Of course, Rudy had to wait for Aunt Tilly to give the okay. It was always the same ritual of her saying a few words first. Rudy hardly paid attention to what they were. He was just focusing on the food in front of him, waiting until he could launch himself forward and start eating it.

Then came Aunt Tilly’s words.

“You may now eat.”

Sophie was already digging in, eating faster than what looked to be physically possible. Rudy froze in his tracks as he saw this. He couldn’t help but smile and shake his head. He rarely had a chance to smile and laugh lately. Sophie provided that kind of outlet for him. He felt some tinge of jealousy at the life she was leading. She didn’t need to worry about death every day like him. She didn’t need to worry about trying to free some oppressed people, who were only like that because himself just couldn’t…

Rudy realized just how much he was drifting away in his thoughts. He felt a little embarrassed by this. At least Sophie and Aunt Tilly didn’t seem to notice this time. He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain it. Turning his gaze down, he returned to try to eat.

Yet he still froze again. Staring at the food, he could see her face starting to form. The Chalk Queen was staring at him with a twisted, gleeful expression. It served as a silent reminder to Rudy of his life years ago and he could feel his body shaking in response. He almost struck the food away when he heard a voice calling out to him.

“Hey dear, aren’t you hungry?” It was Aunt Tilly. The woman looked over at Rudy with concern. “You look like you aren’t interested. Are you not feeling well?”

Rudy immediately lowered his hand down, turning his head to his aunt and giving her a reassuring smile. “I’m okay. I’m sorry that I’m worrying you so much. I...I don’t mean to…”

“I know. Just… If you need to talk about anything, you know that you can always talk to us, right?” His aunt whispered softly. It almost sounded like she was really sad, despite the small smile on her face. This made Rudy feel even more guilty. “Me and Sophie are willing to help you. Just come to us if you need someone to talk to...okay?”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Don’t worry. I will. I’m just...tired, I…”

“Rudy, I would love to trust your word on this. I don’t want to think that you’re keeping stuff from us.” Aunt Tilly said. She tried to sound as gentle as she could. But Rudy could detect the underlying emotion buried in side. He could almost feel his aunt’s emotions spilling out against him, wrapping around him tightly. “But still, promise us that if anything… if you need to talk about anything… Just let us know.”

There was little that Rudy could do except whatever came to mind to help his aunt feel better. And in this case, all he could do was give another nod of his head. He tried to smile more broadly this time, hoping that this would catch his aunt’s attention and reassure her. He still got himself to speak. Sometimes words were just as good as actions. “I promise.”

Aunt Tilly and his cousin Sophie looked at each other. It was clear to tell, from the look in their eyes, that they weren’t sure if they should believe his words or not. While that was a bit hurtful, it wasn’t like Rudy could not understand why this was the case. He must’ve been worrying them sick. This fact would make him feel bad for hours to come, even if he didn’t show it.

There was no further reason to keep talking. This was something that his family members knew, as as well as himself. He turned his head away from them to look back down at his food. He took in a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for what he needed to do. He couldn’t allow his family to see just how upset he really was. And he couldn’t let them find out just why he was taking so long to get a bite to eat. He didn’t know if they could handle it or not. They already spent years thinking he was dead and those lost years will never come back. How would they react if they learned he was tortured for years by someone who had once been his best friend…?

Rudy tried not to think about it for much longer. He shook his head mentally once or twice to try to clear up his thoughts. He could still feel his family members looking at him carefully, as though they were not sure if he was going to be fine or not. Rudy gritted his teeth tightly and he tried not to let his mind make him do something that he’d regret later. He forced himself to try to look a bit more cheery than he really was. Then he grabbed onto his spoon and made himself start to push it against the food.

There was still a brief moment where he had to freeze, cold chills rushing through his body, as he could see the flash of the Chalk Queen staring up at him. He felt his face slowly contorting in fear, but he managed to shake it off quickly before either of the other two noticed. At least, he hoped that this was the case.

Doing his best to shake off another nervous jolt that entered his body, Rudy proceeded to slowly but surely eat. Eventually he could feel his family’s stares leave him and they focused on their own food.

But all the while, Rudy could never shake off that feeling.

sss

“But Rudy! This isn’t fair!” Sophie pouted. Not something that girls her age should do. But it was something that still stuck with her, Rudy noticed. “You never let me come anywhere!”

Rudy had already been doing his best to keep quiet. He found that it was easier handling Sophie when he did little to return her complaints. But it would seem that this tactic might not work for long. Sophie was getting a bit more in his face recently and his original efforts just where not working any longer.

But regardless, he still made the effort to ignore her anyway. Not like he really needed to talk to her right now. He kept himself laying across his bed, his arms folded over his head and staring up at the ceiling. He was working through his brain’s muscles as he tried to figure out just what he was going to do next. He tried to remember what Terry wanted him to do. Then again, that bitch wanted him to remember a lot of things. So perhaps he should…

“Rudy!’

“Ugh..! Sophie!”

Rudy glared up at his cousin. Sophie had decided it was a good idea to jump on him like he was a trampoline. As he gazed up, the only thing that he could see was Sophie’s face. She was glaring down at him, her lip curled in a pouting sort of way. It was almost amusing and Rudy would have laughed if he wasn’t in this much pain from the girl’s antics.

Sophie sat herself up, straddling Rudy underneath her so that he could not get away. “Come on, Rudy! I know you sneak off somewhere and you never tell me or mom where you are going!” She leaned in a little closer. She grabbed onto Rudy’s shirt and held onto it tightly. “Why can’t you at least tell me? I promise to keep it a secret!”

“For the last time, no!” Rudy twisted himself away, trying to dislodge himself from Sophie. “Gawd, why are you acting like this? You’re like, fifteen years old!”

Sophie growled at this. She smacked Rudy against his face. Not hard, but enough to show her displeasure. “I’m nineteen, you jerk!”

Rudy rubbed his sore cheek as he gave a sly smile to his cousin. “Then why don’t you act like it?”

Sophie bared her teeth at this. She looked like she was going to say something else, but something about what Rudy said must have gotten to her. Or maybe she just lost interest. But it did matter, really. At least she was getting off of his back now.

Rudy let out a small groan as he rubbed his shoulder where Sophie had ended up banging in the process of her jump. He gripped it firmly and let out a small hiss while he turned to glare at Sophie. “I understand that you are upset with me. But that’s no reason to act like such a child.”

“I just don’t get why you don’t trust us.” Sophie spat back. Her arms folded up against her chest. “It’s like you think we’re going to torture you or something!’

Rudy was taken aback by the tears that started to stream down Sophie’s face. He could feel a wave of guilt climbing up inside of him, making him feel nauseous. He darted his eyes left and right as he tried to figure out just what he was going to say. He found his hand reaching out for Sophie, only to pause, his fingers curling inward, and he pulled his hand back. There was not much that he could say or do at this point.

Sophie didn’t seem to be trying to talk to him anymore at this point. Her head was turned downward and she was whimpering softly. Whatever emotion were crowding inside of her, they were now overflowing. The girl did little to stop this from happening. Her voice became choked as tears smothered her. Her cheeks became flushed red and sleek with salt liquid. Her eyes went puffy and red, irritated by it all.

And all Rudy could do was just watch this go on, his eyes widening at what was happening. This wasn’t the first time that Sophie reacted this way. But each and every time that she did, it had the same reaction within him. He put his hand to his chest and clutched it firmly. He realized that he should say something, but what could he tell her after…

Rudy bit his lip and swallowed hard. Even though he still didn’t like the idea of telling Sophie anything in particular, nor did he want her to go with him into ChalkZone, she was still his cousin. He shouldn’t be doing things to make her even more worried about him. What kind of cousin was he to do something like this? He swallowed a second time, his throat dry and scratchy, and he forced himself to move forward. He got close enough that he could reach out and touch Sophie’s shoulder.

Sophie jerked a little and looked at Rudy. She didn’t speak right away. She had to take a few loud shaky gasps first before she could say anything. And even then, her voice was trembling. “R-R-Rudy… I-I… I’m sorry that I y-yelled. I just..”

Rudy smiled gently at the girl in front of him. “It’s okay, Soph. I should have been a little nicer. I’m the one who should apologize.” He moved in closer to pull Sophie into a more firm hug. The teenager stiffened briefly at this, but soon she returned his head. “I know that you’re worried about me. But I promise, I’m going to be fine. I just...need my alone time, that’s all.”

“Are you still thinking about Penny?”

That question came out of nowhere and Rudy was too startled to think of a fast enough reply. His voice was lodged in his throat and all he could get out where brief sounds.

Sophie was quick to catch on. “I know you’re hurt by what she did. I..I can’t really believe myself that she…” Sophie’s voice darkened slightly. “But I swear, I won’t let her get to you. Don’t you worry, Rudy.”

While he did appreciate the enthusiasm, Rudy knew that Sophie would stand no chance against Penny. Plus, he would never forgive himself if something were to happen to her because of him. He had to make sure that Sophie never entered ChalkZone again. He was thankful that she didn’t seem to remember it. She was only two when she went in, and any memories, she would chalk up to being just a bizarre dream if anything.

But there was still the worry that something could happen to change all of this. He feared that Sophie might become a little nosier than usual and she might take action herself. She might take matters into her own hands if he continued to push her away like this. And to make it worse, there was nothing that he could say to pacify her. That’s what was making this so much harder than it needed to be.

But in the meantime, he just held onto his cousin and cradled her against him. A bit painful with his leg, but right now, he just cared about calming his cousin. He could always figure things out later. He had all night to think about it.

“Shhh…” Rudy whispered to Sophie, who was continuing to shed tears. “It will be okay. I promise…”


	3. Some Rough Edges

Penny’s eyes remained furrowed as she stared out at the landscape in front of her. Beside her, Courtney the large vulture zoner was perched, clutching the newly drawn ledge to wait for her creator’s next demand.

But Penny had little to say while she searched the land around her. She noted the dark, swirling tinge that the land had gained over the years. Probably just a byproduct of having created a more stable source of power. Some of the zoners had been complaining, but...eh, at least it was working. Isn’t that what mattered in the end?

Penny’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of scraping behind her. She turned herself around to see three of her metal animals coming towards her. Two of them were dragging a third, which she realized had been sliced apart. The robots dropped their fallen comrade in front of her and just stared at her. Penny narrowed her eyes at this and she raised her head up, snarling softly.

“Let me guess.” Penny spoke softly. “This one was taken down by Rudy and Terry, correct…?”

There was no response from the robots. Well for the most part. She could still hear them releasing some buzzing, static sounds. These were more akin to wild animal noises, however. But he knew that they understood every words that she was saying. That’s how she had programmed them to be. And it was easy for her to notice their cringing motions. She just let out a small sigh and turned her head away.

“Very well then.” She raised her hand up and made a few forward twitches with her hand. “Take it to the repair room. I’ll do something about it later.”

She could hear the robotic lizards give off a few mechanical hisses as they grabbed the body of their fallen comrade and dragged it over towards one direction. Penny watched as they left. She could see them disappear and she slowly shook her head. Perhaps she had been a little too fair with that design.

But no matter. It would be a little too boring if she just killed Rudy and his ally with one shot. She wanted to make things fun, more interesting. She wanted to keep giving them challenges. It wasn’t like they stood a chance in removing her from power so easily. So why not have fun with the whole situation? She could make them believe one thing and then do another. It was the main form of entertainment that she had around here.

It had been about two years since she had let him go. And in that time, things had gotten more interesting around here. She had managed to up her game as queen and tightened controls around the place to make it harder for anyone to stand up to her. Long gone were the days of rebellion or even talks of it. Skrawl had fully resigned himself to being under her command as did Craniac. But she didn’t make the same mistake as before. To keep them loyal to her, she did offer them some level of control, raising them far above the other zoners. Even if they were not the top dogs, this did seem to please them, as they still more or less outranked all of the other zoners.

She then shook her head and furrowed her eyes slightly. She knew that Rudy and Terry are not going to be coming back for a while, and she did have that robot to repair. She could make some modifications to try to make the fight more….interesting.

Nah, she didn’t need to worry about that stupid robot for now. The repairs can wait. And besides, she can always just draw something new from the ground up instead of constantly indulging herself in repairs like this. She let herself smile a little as she turned and walked away.

Upon hearing Courtney’s confused squawk, she said, “You can stay right there… I will be back later…”

And with that, Penny made her way back through the door that had led out into this balcony. She heard the doors shutting behind her a bit loudly. She ignored this as she continued to press on, making her way down in the hallway. There was something that she needed to do before she forgot. Not that this is has ever happened. But she wouldn’t want there to be a first.

It was quite easy for her to find what she was looking for as she traversed the hallway. Or more specifically, whom she was looking for.

She could see Skrawl standing not far at the end of the hallway. He had frozen in place, looking over at her with partially widened eyes. It was hard to tell what he was going to do, but he clearly did not expect to see her right then. But instead of trying to run off like a coward, she just forced out an exhale and kept himself as straight as possible. He did nothing as Penny moved in closer, and soon she was only a few feet away from him. Even then, Skrawl did nothing, clearly waiting for her to speak. Penny smirked at this and she gave him what he wanted.

“Where were you going to go, King Skrawl…?” Penny asked. She placed her hand on her hip, tilting herself a little to one side. She waited to hear what Skrawl had to say. When he did not respond right away, she implored, “Well? I am waiting.”

Skrawl stammered a little, tapping his claws against each other. There was good reason for him to be nervous. “Well I was just on my way to…”

“Whatever you were going to plan, I suggest you give up on it.” Penny said, interrupting him. “I have something more...interesting for you to partake in.”

Skrawl looked at her with uncertainty. “Oh? Like what?” He asked cautiously.

Penny raised her hand up towards him. “Why don’t you come with me and see?”

The jellybean zoner looked left and right, but soon he just nodded his head and swallowed. “Sure, okay. Why not?”

Penny smirked at this. She turned herself around, making a few quick gestures with her hand. “Come along now, Skrawly. You don’t want to be late, do you?” She bent her head backwards so that she could see him almost upside down as well as sideways at once. “Or do you have another surprise for me…?”

Skrawl almost seemed to pale at this and he quickly hurried to catch up to her. Penny could only just smile at this. Skrawl could be fun to mess with sometimes.

sss

“So you finally arrived here.” Terry hissed as she folded her arms to herself. “I thought you were never going to arrive.”

Rudy tried not to growl at the woman as he pushed himself through the door. He had to struggle a little before he managed to get inside. “Hey at least I got here, all right? And besides, you know how nosy my little cousin can be.”

Terry scoffed. “I’m aware.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes at this. He did not appreciate the tone that Terry was using. But there was no point in arguing with her, now was there? He should consider himself lucky to even have her as an ally. Or anyone for that matter. There was no way that he could accomplish anything on his own. Penny would have overtaken him at this point. And all that he had worked hard for would be gone. He shuddered to think of that idea. At least here in this situation, he had some form of stable...hope he guess would be the right terminology. A ghost of a chance.

Rudy didn’t bother keeping quiet for much longer, knowing that there was work to be done. He straightened himself up to try to make himself look like he had any sort of authority. It was all that he could do to silently remind the woman before him just who was really in charge here and that she still had to take his shots when he told her to. This task hadn’t always been so easy and it still was not. But at least it gave him some sense of any kind of control over…

Rudy pushed the thought out of his head. He moved in closer towards Terry, soon taking a stand a few feet in front of her. He took in a deep breath and he sighed. And then he said, “So what did you want to suggest for me...us...to do this time?”

Terry gave a small smile at this. She chuckled softly and said, “I knew that you would be lost without me.” Terry raised her head up a little and continued to give that hideous, arrogant smile. “I wanted to know how you feel about the idea of infiltration.”

Rudy blinked at this. He was about to ask what the woman meant. Then his eyes snapped open big and he took in a sharp gasp. “You… You can’t be serious!” When Terry made no effort to tell him that he was mistaken, he took a step forward and spread his hands open. “Y-You would risk that for…?! We just barely escaped before!”

Terry calmly folded her arms to herself. She adopted a more serious look, the smile disappearing. It would seem that she was being honest about this and not just trying to scare or confuse him. As a result, that realization was beginning to make Rudy feel worse. He struggled to stay quiet as Terry spoke to him.

“You don’t get it, do you? We have to start taking bigger risks. She was close to killing us last time, you are right. One of the closests she’s ever came. That’s why we need to start bringing the fight to her.”

Rudy could feel himself stammering at this declaration. He had no idea just what the hell was going on through Terry’s mind and why she thought that this was a good idea. Just what the fuck did she think was going to happen? Penny just let them waltz right into her base? Just trying to enter the outer areas was suicide. He could only just imagine what Penny would do if she spotted them getting right into her castle.

But judging from how Terry was acting, it would seem that the red-haired woman considered this a reasonable option. It was hard to tell from her expression if she thought that this would be an easy task or not. But that did not matter too much. Rudy knew that it would be too dangerous to consider. He needed to convince Terry otherwise.

Yet he still needed to be careful with how that he handled this. He recalled there were times when Terry threatened to quit. He didn’t know if she actually meant it or not. Perhaps it was just out of frustration of having to find an absurd way of getting out of the mental ward. Rudy didn’t know the full details. Just that it was difficult. Maybe Terry telling him she’d leave him was more a result of this than anything that he did.

But still, it didn’t hurt to be careful. He didn’t want to give her yet another reason to leave. She and him might not exactly be friends, but at the moment, she was the best ally that he could get. Vinnie wanted nothing to do with ChalkZone any longer and Terry already tried convincing him. The two of them were on their own.

At least, until something happened.

Rudy kept himself from saying or yelling anything to Terry. Like hell that was going to resolve anything. “So what do you propose we do about this? You know that it will be hard to get into the Chalk Queen’s castle.” He narrowed his eyes a little further as he held his hand up in gesture. “What was your plan?”

Terry gave a small smile at this. “I’m glad you asked, chalk boy.”

“Don’t call me that.” Rudy hissed at her.

Terry ignored him as she pressed on, “I know that this is a serious situation and that it is not going to be easy. Don’t think that I’m going to be taking this lightly.” Terry’s small smile seemed to falter slightly, but still remained visible. “I’m not an idiot, you know. I can’t exactly to afford to lose you. Who else can be my guide in ChalkZone?”

Rudy growled softly at this. But he didn’t say anything.

Terry continued, “I think that the best way to go about this is through deceit. We need a way to lower the Chalk Queen’s guard, or Penny as you sometimes call her…” Rudy said nothing. “..and we should be able to get inside and try to sabotage her. I’m sure there’s something that we can destroy to set her back.”

“But even if there is…” Rudy said, interrupting the woman. “...how do you propose we get out of there before she find out what we…”

“We just need to act quickly, that’s all. You know that she rarely takes action herself these days.” Terry commented. She put her finger to her chin and tapped it lightly. “Most likely, we will just have to deal with her robotic creations.”

Rudy felt himself shuddering slightly at this. “The last time we did that, we were nearly killed.”

“You were nearly killed, you mean.” Terry corrected him. “If you had just listened to me, you would have been nowhere near that situation.”

“Did you forget that I’m the one who is supposed to be in charge?” Rudy growled, silently reminding Terry of the situation. “You’ve been egging to get more and more control.”

“That’s because you don’t know how to do your own job, Rudy Tabootie.” Quipped Terry. She gave him a small sneer. Bitterness lingered all around her facial expression. There was nothing that Rudy could say to contradict her. “But let’s not focus on that too much. Allow me to show you exactly what I think we should do. It won’t take out the Chalk Queen like I said. But any setback is a victory.”

Rudy nodded his head stiffly. He still wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to go along with this idea or not. His idea of taking action would be more slow, but that hadn’t been working, had it? He did realize that Terry had a point and that a more direct response might be needed. They couldn’t keep fighting Penny’s minions but they also couldn’t yet face her. But if they put a cork in the machine, per say, they might be able to make some kind of change.

So far, they hadn’t been able to free one place from the Chalk Queen’s ruling. It wasn’t that they never tried. But it was clear, as Rudy thought about it more and more, that Penny was going to keep spreading her control. Even if one place were freed, that would just be temporary. It would not take long before Penny would retake control. It would just be a brief, almost empty victory.

Likewise, whatever he and Terry did would also be temporary. Yet perhaps it could serve another purpose. Perhaps the zoners could have some hope renewed, and a new wave of rebellions could take place. If the zoners began to fight back, then there might be a chance that a freed area could retain its newfound status.

Or perhaps this was all just the hopeful wishes of a desperate boy, Rudy scolded himself. Still, they had to at least try.

Rudy let out a small sigh. He motioned his hand out towards Terry. “Okay, let’s sit down and you can show me what you’ve got.”

Terry grinned at this. With a nod of her head, she said, “I will do that gladly.”

A part of Rudy wondered if he was going to regret this decision or not. But in the end, he still followed Terry. There wouldn’t be any harm in listening. And perhaps, if they did things right, this could work out. He’s already seen a lot of shit anyway. How could this be that much worse?

sss

Rudy’s eyes narrowed softly. Perhaps he should have said something against this sooner. Perhaps this was not the best idea that Terry’s ever had. But there was nothing that he could do to stop her from doing this and he was already knee deep in this situation, anyway. He might as well try to see this through.

He and Terry were moving along through the dangerous landscape. On the outside, it didn’t look that bad. It was just the main street of ChalkZone City. They needed to pass it in order to get anywhere near Penny’s castle. There was a tunnel around here that they had heard rumors about. It might get them a little closer without getting spotted, and the shield of the tall buildings made it hard for any of Penny’s flying zoners to see them.

But they were still vulnerable to any on the ground. That was why they had to keep their eyes and ears open for any signs of these zoners. It was not just the patrollers they had to fear, but also Penny’s creations as well as any zoners that ended up siding with her, whether persuaded or coming to view her in the right.

Rudy tried not to think about that uncomfortable image, the idea that some zoners are starting to defect, and he just forced himself to continue walking forward. Terry was not far away from him, and in her hands, she clutched a piece of magic chalk as well. Rudy was aware of how precious each piece of magic chalk was, and how hard it was to even get a new piece with how Penny has the Chalk Mine guarded. This was why a lot of times, they had to draw things into this world from the other side. A part of him hoped that this would become easier later on.

But that was just wishful thinking, wasn’t it?

“Psst! Rudy!” He could hear Terry say to him. He turned his head to look at her. She was gesturing her head in one direction. “Look over there!” Her voice was low and slightly coarse.

Rudy did as she told him and he looked out in front of him. His eyes widened and he was about to let out a small gasp. Terry managed to keep him from getting any further, holding onto him and pulling him back. Rudy adjusted himself and he stared out ahead intently.

Of course King Skrawl of all people was here...

Rudy narrowed his eyes at this, letting his teeth become bared. He tried to think of what he was going to do now. He and Terry had not counted on him being here. He could hear Terry growling under her breath. He could not blame her. Apparently Skrawl had broken some kind of deal they had made several years ago.

But whatever happened between them, Rudy hardly cared. It might have been for the best that the deal was broken. It made things a bit easier. The last time that he needed was to worry about some kind of complication.

With his eyes focused on Skrawl in front of him, he tried to think of just what he was going to do. There had to be some sort of action that he and Terry could pull off in order to stop Skrawl in his tracks. But that would be easier said than done. He was painfully aware of how Penny had used Skrawl that one time. He was her spy, was he not? If he saw either of them, Penny would know. Then their cover was going to be blown. It would seem that the only thing that they could do was to use their magic chalk. And that was a precious resource to them.

Rudy could feel himself stiffening briefly, surprised by the swift motion that Terry was making. He hadn’t expected her to already decide to use her magic chalk now. Rudy opened his mouth to warn her, but there was no point in that. She was already drawing swiftly. It took only a few seconds as all she did was draw some kind of ball in her hand, looking like it was made out of crystal. Rudy stared at this confusion. Terry ignored his expression as she raised her hand up, holding the hard ball in place.

“Come near me.” Terry hissed under her breath. “I cannot guarantee how well this will work. We need to move swiftly.”

Rudy raised his eyebrow at her, still skeptical of this thing. But there was not much else that he could do, was there? Licking his lips slowly, he moved towards her, closing in the small gap that was between them.

Once he was right by her, he said, “So what are you going to….”

Terry cut him off not through words, but by clicking something on the ball itself. Rudy watched in shock and surprise as something flickered around them. And before he knew it, he and Terry were both encased on what appeared to be a large, clear dome. He raised his head up and looked around this thing. Then he turned to give the woman a soft glare.

“Do you really think that this is going to fool him for long?” Rudy asked. “He’s going to notice the lights!”

Terry shook her head. “We can see them, but to him, it is like we aren’t even here.” She moved her fingers across the crystal-like ball a few times. Her eyes furrowed a little deeper. “But we have to be careful. This will not muffle any of our sounds. If we do anything to catch his attention…”

Rudy nodded his head in understanding. He kept close to her and he kept his attention focused on the ground and the area in front of him. He and Terry had already started to walk. They had to move pretty slowly to insure that they would not be heard by Skrawl. Although progress would take quite a while, this was still the best thing that they could do in the moment. If they were caught by Skrawl… Rudy pushed the thought aside, not wanting to think about it.

Rudy could see how close they were getting to Skrawl. He could feel how tense everything was feeling the closer and closer he and Terry got. He could feel the air around him getting tense and solid. He struggled to keep himself calm as he forged on, his head slowly spinning with many thoughts.

sss

So this is what the queen asked him to do? This is the big emergency that she had been imploring him to do? After all that time she had spent giving him good jobs, she decided to give him something as dumb as monitoring ChalkZone City? Why the hell would she do that? Not like this place saw much action lately.

It was true. There were hardly any zoners here, at least not ones that weren’t following a set pattern and rule. The patrollers were, improved by the Chalk Queen herself, did not require any assistance. They were doing a good job on their own.

So why the hell would the Chalk Queen send him here? There had to be a reason for it. He couldn’t think of what it was in the moment. But surely, if he thought hard enough, maybe something would come to mind. Maybe he could figure out something that actually made sense. But it seemed like, no matter what he tried, nothing answered his lingering questions. Well there was one thing, but it was kind of silly, was it not?

Then again, how could this be related to anything except Rudy Tabootie himself…?

Skrawl could just slap himself in the face for not taking care of Rudy when he had the chance. Letting him go had been a mistake. If he had him killed, that would be one less person to worry about.

But there was still the issue with Terry Bouffant…

Well, he would figure out something to do with her eventually. A part of him was glad that he had cancelled his plans for her. The place that he had been building was discovered by Penny. This didn’t mean that it was cancelled. Oh no, Penny did permit it to be finished, but it would be used for something else. This meant that he had no choice but to inform Terry of the bad news.

But it would seem that this had been the right choice all along. How could he have managed to make sure that it wouldn’t be misused and keeping up with Penny at the same time? Plus, it was this that helped improve things between him and Penny. And that helped secure control better than making some lame deal with a human he’s barely talked to. Yes, this was all working out for the better.

Of course, it was not just Terry who would disagree. Rapsheeba was appalled by his ‘sellout’, as she referred to it. This resulted in Skrawl needing to take swift action to ensure that he wouldn’t end up in big trouble. This certainly helped with his position with Penny even more, showing her where Rapsheeba had been hiding all along. Skrawl had no idea where Rapsheeba was, but it did not matter. Without one of their biggest voices, most of the zoners didn’t attempt to rebel any further.

Skrawl let out a small sigh as he shook his head, straightening it up and looking around left and right. He shouldn’t be getting himself too caught up in all of this. He can always think about the fond memories another time. He kept his eyes staring out ahead as he looked to see where Rudy and Terry could be hiding.

So far, he wasn’t really seeing anything too important. Just the same old stuff like before. Nothing but city, buildings, and sidewalks all around. He did see the occasional zoner or patroller. But nothing that he himself should be worried about. He narrowed his eyes a little further and tried to look in nearby alleyways. But even they yielded no results. He could just walk up to them and look, but didn’t Penny tell him to remain in one spot? That seemed counterintuitive, but he didn’t have much of an option. She would know if he disobeyed her.

The jellybean zoner couldn’t hold himself still for much longer. He opened his mouth up and let out a small yawn. Boredom was already washing over him and he gave a small growl. He scratched at his side and continued to swing his head from one side to the other. A part of him almost wished that Rudy and Terry would just show their ugly mugs so that he could get this done and over with.

Wait, what was this…?

Skrawl froze his gaze towards the ground to his left. He only stared for a few seconds to get a good idea, then he moved his head back. As he did so, he replayed the image in his head and he felt his teeth just slightly baring.

The ground was looking slightly disturbed. It was very faint and it was a struggle to see just what was going on. But when he looked closely, he noticed that some dust was being kicked up. There was no wind around here, which meant that someone had to have been doing this. The idea of an invisible zoner was not far-fetched, but his mind immediately went somewhere else.

This was Rudy Tabootie and Terry Bouffant, wasn’t it?

Skrawl made little physical reaction, not wanting either of them to know that he had spotted them. He had a feeling that they were going to want to keep going straight just so that he would be within their sights. This meant that, if he timed his move right, he could catch at least one of them and inform Penny. Or perhaps she already knew herself. Well, what kind of king would he be if he didn’t do something for his….’subjects’? He chuckled mentally at this.

Skrawl kept himself still as he waited for the two humans to approach. He listened carefully, and soon he could hear their footsteps. Soft and faint… They were quite clever in not moving too fast. They must really think that they stood a chance at getting away swiftly. Oh how wrong that they were…

Skrawl could soon sense that they were just a couple of feet away. He could hear their breathing more clearly. He could feel their body heat approaching him. He could see more and more dust being disturbed. He felt his arm muscles tightening and winding up. He gritted his teeth tightly. He continued to wait and wait…

Until…

“Graaaw!” Skrawl shouted as he suddenly launched himself forward. His hands were spread outward and his claws arched threateningly. “Surprise, you assholes!”

That was all that Terry and Rudy had to hear before they let out screams of their own. Skrawl had taken them by surprise, he could tell, and they could do nothing to defend themselves from the oncoming attack. Skrawl didn’t know which one he was going to hit. So he just rammed forward until he could feel one of them. He immediately dug his claws into his catch and shoved them into the ground.

Skrawl could feel himself smiling twistedly as he saw which one he had grabbed. “Master Tabootie… Such a surprise and ‘honor’ to see you here…”

Rudy squirmed on the ground, pushing up against Skrawl. The human might have regained some strength over the years, but he was still weaker than the jellybean zoner. What a pity. Skrawl needed only to push down a little more firmly to cause Rudy to seethe in pain.

“I don’t know why you decided to come here. What did you hope to accomplish?” Skrawl tilted his head to one side. “What? You didn’t think that this place would not be armed?”

Rudy glared up at Skrawl, keeping his teeth bared. “Oh shut up, you piece of…”

Skrawl squeezed Rudy’s arms tighter. “Did you forget your manners? You know who you are talking to. You will address me as King Skrawl. If you don’t, well..” Skrawl pressed his claw tips against Rudy’s arm. It was almost to the point where he was drawing blood, and he was not afraid to do that, either. “I can give you a good reason to… Ack!”

Terry had rushed forward and delivered a punch directly on one of Skrawl’s eyes. The jellybean zoner staggered back, releasing his grip on Rudy. Skrawl shook his head and turned to glare at the female human. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’m sorry, King Skrawl. Was that too complicated for your pitiful mind?”

Skrawl growled at this. “You…!”

Terry chuckled at this response, as though she thought this was the funniest thing in the world. So much of Skrawl wanted to strike out against her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do much of anything. He realized that he would have very little chance at taking any action against her right now. Not while she still held that magic chalk up the way that she had. He kept himself positioned, ready to take action whenever he needed to.

He had been so distracted by this that he failed to realize that perhaps there was a reason that Terry had stepped up. There was a small part of him that was making some sort of realization. But by the time that he did, he could already feel something behind him. A small movement, and even though he turned around to see what it was, he was already too late.

Skrawl let out a small yelp of pain as he felt the strong, metal shovel striking against him. The mere fact that Rudy came up with such a lame weapon did not enter his mind. Instead, he just rubbed his head as he felt soreness spreading over his face. He wanted to examine his face further to see just how badly injured that he was. But instead, he just formed a small fist with his head and turned to glare at Rudy.

“I should rip out your throat for such disrespect!” Skrawl declared. He tried to make himself sound like he had some kind of authority over the situation. But if he was hoping to get these two to care, he realized that he was barking up the wrong tree.

Well whatever. He didn’t need to worry about getting their respect. He might not even need to beat them. He just needed to keep them here long enough for Penny to arrive. That should not be too difficult, right? He should be able to pull something like that off rather easily. The thought amused him, causing his mouth corners to curl upwards. Luckily, the two stupid humans didn’t realize what he was really smiling for.

“Isn’t it too early to celebrate?” Terry snarled at him. She kept her small piece of magic chalk held up, the end of it sparkling. “I think that, if I were you, oversized potato, I would be begging for mercy.”

Rudy said nothing. He seemed to be a little more cautious of the situation. Smart boy, but it was not going to be good enough. Skrawl waited with anticipation, feeling his claws twitching, ready to take action the moment that Rudy decided to do something stupid.

But he also didn’t take his eyes off of Terry too much. He knew that the moment that he gave either of them the edge, they would take advantage of it. He was going to make sure that neither of them were able to leave in time. And the best part?

They had no idea that he was just a distraction.

Seeing that Rudy was already coming forward to attack him again, Skrawl whirled himself around and struck out towards Rudy. He backhanded him across the face, causing him to go flying backwards. Rudy stumbled and struggled to keep himself standing. But there was little that he could do to stay balanced and he ended up falling towards the ground.

Skrawl didn’t bother going up to him. There was no time for that. He saw that Terry was trying to draw something to protect Rudy with or whatever it was that she was doing. Skrawl curled his lip up into a snarl as he positioned himself towards the woman and started to make a break for it. Terry didn’t have much time to react before Skrawl pushed up against her. Terry let out a small shout of pain as Skrawl’s body rammed into her. She crashed into the ground onto her shoulder painfully.

Terry seethed through clenched teeth, clutching her shoulder tightly. She glared up at Skrawl and growled at him, “Cheap shot!”

“Hey if it works…” Skrawl shrugged his shoulders. He then let out a small yelp of pain when he could feel Rudy hitting him yet again. Skrawl slowly turned around and he grabbed onto the shovel, keeping Rudy from being able to attack him again. “How rude, little artist boy….” He said, his voice low and growly. “Perhaps you don’t deserve to use the magic chalk.”

Rudy struggled to pull himself back, but Skrawl just held onto the shovel more firmly. He slowly lifted it up into the air, bringing Rudy above the ground with him. He let him dangle there for a few seconds before he spoke up.

“What did you hope to accomplish with this…?” Skrawl hissed. “Are you really that desperate, Master Tabootie?”

Rudy looked like he was going to speak. But it would appear that he was beaten to it.

“No, but you could say that I am.”

Skrawl turned his head to the side just in time to see something striking up against him. This time, he could feel something sharp and he let out a scream. He put his hand to his face and saw that Terry had used a blade on him this time. He shuddered as he tried to get the bleeding to stop. After a few seconds, he released a low growl as he turned to face Terry, part of his vision obscured by the red fluid.

“Oops, did I do that?” Terry asked mockingly. She smiled at Skrawl’s glare. “What are you complaining about? That is a good look for you.”

Skrawl could feel his blood heating up. He was about to take a step forward to strike at the woman….until he remembered how she and Rudy functioned together. They seemed to like misleading him, to distract him repeatedly while the other did something to him. He kept this in mind as he turned his gaze just enough to see what was to his side.

He could see that Rudy was coming up right towards him. He was wearing an arrogant expression. Faint but still there, and Skrawl still knew what he was up to. Skrawl did not let himself smile, but he was giggling bitterly on the inside. If Rudy and this stupid woman thought that they were going to get the best of them that easily...

Well, they certainly had another think coming to that, didn’t they?

Skrawl did not take action right away. He let them continue to believe that they had the upper hand right now. He pretended that he did not notice Rudy was getting ever closer and closer. He kept his eyes on Terry, keeping himself tensed up as if to fight her. He could see Terry was getting ready herself. He thought he could see the magic chalk sparkling more profusely at this point. Skrawl licked his lips slowly and swallowed hard. Then he listened carefully and then...

Skrawl quickly pushed himself to one side. For someone so large, he could move so fast. He could see just how shocked and confused Terry was when he did this. That provided enough satisfaction to Skrawl. But he knew it was about to get better. So long as he made his calculations correctly...

“Aaaah!” Terry let out a cry of pain.

Skrawl smirked at this. Perfect. A direct hit. Just like he had hoped.

Terry backed away, holding her face that had been deeply reddened by Rudy’s attack. The young man looked at the older woman in shock, his arms slunk slightly downward as though he was about to drop it at any given moment. He struggled to think of what he could say, but all that he could do was scream her name.

“M-Ms. Bouffant! A-Are you...?”

Rudy rushed over to Terry and reached his hand out to her to try to help her. But instead she just struck it back, snarling at him. Rudy held his hand to himself and stared at her with widened, confused eyes.

“You idiot! Look at where you’re doing next time!” Terry shouted at him. “How could you have been so stupid?!” She put her hand to her face and caressed it. She widened her eyes when she could see some specks of blood on it. Then she turned to snarl at Rudy. “This is your fault!”

Rudy struggled to take a few steps back. Then he took a defensive stance, pointing his finger directly at the woman. “Me?! You were the one who was supposed to distract him!”

“I was!”

“Well you did a fine job of it!”

“Why you...!”

Skrawl watched in silent pleasure as the two bickered like this. With them distracted, it was the perfect time to strike them both down. He held his hands outward and curled his claws inward, then flexed them outward. There was a small glint to them as he started to approach the two slowly.

Then, when they didn’t expect it, he attacked.


	4. A Moment Of Lost Control

The fight that was taking place certainly was amusing. More so than Penny could have hoped for. She never really expected Skrawl to get this close to beating them. A part of her knew that Rudy and Terry would find another way out eventually. It was just in their nature. That didn’t make watching the fight unfold any less amusing.

Indeed, Skrawl managing to get the upperhand and strike them both down, that was something worthy of being rewatched over and over again. That was indeed almsot tempting to do. Penny certainly would have the power to do so.

But eh, that would have been a little too...pitiful she guessed was the word. A little below her level. That was something that she expected King Skrawl to do. But not the Chalk Queen.... No, she was better than that. She was above that. She was going to handle things in a more...sophisticated kind of way.

Penny let out a small sigh and decided that she had seen enough. It would only be a matter of time before they would win and leave. Penny did still send out some of her robotic lizards to the scene just for fun. But she did not expect to win this battle. Instead, the purpose of this was to test them a little more, and try to think if there was any weakness that she could hone in on. She expected Skrawl to give her quite the report when he returned.

Penny turned her attention to the hallway out of this monitor room. There was someone in particular she did want to try to visit today. Someone whom she felt would have some interested information. She let herself continue to smile a little more before she began to head down, going in one direction in particular.

Entering this large area, where Skrawl had been building something massive, always felt strange to her and she was not sure why. Perhaps it was because she never thought a zoner could be capable of doing this. Or maybe she was silently worried that Skrawl was going to use this on her one day. She shook that thought out of her head as she pressed in, going towards the large structure before her.

The Quartz Prison... Her favorite creation. Well, her favorite creation if she counted those that were more of a collaboration. But..eh, details. It ultimately didn’t matter who built it. In the end, it still serves the same purpose.

An external place, outside of her castle, to store prisoners. And one that was far more secure than before. She had little fear of the zoners getting out of this place.

But this was made particularly for one specific zoner. One that had managed to slip away from her countless times. She smiled at this thought as she curled her fingers inward, looking at them as she imagined herself toying with said zoner. Perhaps she should prolong it like she had with Facial Red Hair.

Penny entered the large, barred doorway, which raised up in order to let her in. She could hear it close heavily behind her. She paused only for a moment to look behind her. Then she merely shrugged her shoulders and she continued on through the hallway, heading in deeper and deeper into this place.

It did look rather pretty on the inside. It was almost hard to tell that this was supposed to be a prison. The walls were white and sparkly as light reflected off of them. The walls were also a little bumpy, showing off the rocky nature of it all. The floor was flat and highly reflective. Looking down, she can easily see the ceiling above her, which had rows of chandeliers hanging down. Just from this alone, one might think that this was a high class place where only the rich and famous would get to dine.

She chuckled at this idea. She couldn’t help but wonder if any of the actual occupants here thought this. Had they noticed the irony in all of this? Instead of being kept in an actual dungeon, they were given, what was essentially, a gilded bird cage. She felt that this was harsher than what she did before, and would better imprint on their minds.

She walked passed the rows of locked rooms that the zoners were locked up in. The doors themselves were pretty nice-looking. They were tall and round with golden knobs. The main thing keeping them closed were the thick metal bars placed across them. This would prevent any of the zoners from actually attempting to open up any of the doors themselves. She could not quite remember whose idea this was. But she was thankful for it.

She could hear some of the zoners inside. Grumbling or shouting, or whimpering… It was a whole varied choir of sounds. Hearing them made her smile, but she still pressed on. There was little time to waste on these zoners. They were not the ones she was looking for.

She soon found the room that she wanted. She had marked this door in particular so that she would remember. The other prisoners, there was no need to remember who they were. Just a bunch of generic faces that commited generic crimes. There were only a few that were worth remembering.

Such as the zoner she was about to visit now.

Penny let herself smile more broadly as she reached forward and began to undo the bars that kept the door shut. They slide away slowly and loudly, scraping along metal against metal. She flinched slightly at this, but she managed to push aside the effects rather easily. Soon the door opened up completely and she was able to grab the door knob and turn it. She pushed the door open and she stepped inside the room.

If someone unfamiliar with this place were to walk in, they would not have realized what this room was supposed to be. It looked almost like a place of paradise. A large, spacious room with some nice amenities. Anyone in here would be living a life of some comfort. The only thing is that they would not be able to leave. And for many, that would make living here not worth it. But anyone in here, in one of these rooms, they didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. She had made sure of that.

Penny looked around the room to try to find whoever was assigned this room in particular. It looked like the room was empty, but Penny knew better. She smiled softly and gave a few small chuckles. It would seem that a certain someone here was attempting to play a game of hide-and-seek with her. How amusing.

Oh well, Penny didn’t mind playing that game.

The woman made her way further into the room. She took her time walking, slowly stepping on the ground and lifting her foot up, feeling almost as though she was walking on air. She turned her eyes from one side to the other, trying to search around for that elusive zoner. They were doing a really good job of hiding this time around, it would seem. No obvious clues of their whereabouts. Well that is, except for that strangely-shaped lump beside the window over there…

Penny made her way over quickly, striding over in almost absolute silence. She reached over and she grabbed onto the curtain itself and yanked it to one side. And there she could see the zoner that she had been looking for.

Queen Rapsheeba herself…

Rapsheeba jumped at this, her eyes widening in horror. There was no sign of shock in her eyes, though. Had she realized that this plan was not going to work? Was she only acting out of desperation? Penny smirked at the thought before proceeding to head on over towards Rapsheeba, holding her hand out as she prepared to grab the zoner. Rapsheeba immediately turned to try to run away, but Penny was faster than she was. Rapsheeba gagged as Penny wrapped her fingers around Rapsheeba’s neck and pulled her back sharply.

“I don’t think so…” Penny cooed as she hoisted Rapsheeba up from the ground. “Where’s my favorite prisoner going…?”

Rapsheeba struggled and squirmed in Penny’s grasp. She clawed at her hands and tried to force the human to let her go. Penny tightened her grip further, causing the small zoner to gasp in pain and for air. She turned her head to glare up at Penny, baring her teeth. If she was trying to be threatening, she was failing spectacularly.

“I’ll claw your eyes out!” Rapsheeba shouted as she struck towards the woman. “I won’t let you do that to me again! You hear me?!”

Penny merely shifted herself to one side, staring at Rapsheeba with a mocking saddened face. “Why, queenie… Your words hurt.”

Rapsheeba’s eyes widened at this. Then she snarled, “D-Don’t you dare call me that…”

Penny chuckled at this, reaching her hand over to scratch Rapsheeba’s chin. “Why not? Isn’t that what Snap used to call you?”

Tears began to form in Rapsheeba’s eyes. “Y-You bitch…!”

Penny just sneered at this, smiling twistedly as she tilted her head to one side. She let out a series of dark chuckles as she carried Rapsheea over towards the nearby couch. “Oh my, what a temper that you have… Maybe you need some time to relax? There’s no need for such bitter words, you sweet little zoner…”

Rapsheeba still attempted to escape from Penny’s grasp. She seemed absolutely determined to get away. It was amusing to watch, and provided Penny with some entertainment. Of course, this was going to get old soon and she was going to want to take further action. But for now, she let the zoner try to squirm and get away. It wasn’t like she was going anywhere and she served absolutely no threat to her. Let her have her little fun.

Penny sat down and forced Rapsheeba to sit with her. She held the zoner down by her shoulders, pressing her against her back on the couch. Rapsheeba twisted and squirmed on the couch, her teeth clenched tightly and grunting loudly. She looked so desperate to get away, but she must know that there was no escaping this. The way that she looked up at her, those eyes wide in terror, Rapsheeba knew there was nothing that she can do to get away. The moment that she gave that defeated look, Penny gave a twisted grin.

There was no reason for Penny to do this. She herself was well aware of this. She had Rapsheeba locked up and that should have been good enough. But ever since she had let Rudy go, there was a void in her mind that needed to be filled up again. There was something that needed to replace it.

And that something was Rapsheeba.

The little zoner that squirmed beneath her would make a perfect replacement for Rudy, something to substitute him with. And for all the frustrations that she still had for Rudy, she could take them out on Rapsheeba. It wasn’t like she didn’t deserve it, either. She was the cause of some of the rebellion that had happened years ago. She still needed to pay for all of that, anyway.

There was no further time to waste. Tightening her grip and her eyes glinting down at Rapsheeba, she said, “Now, how about we get started…? I would like to finish this sooner rather than later.”

Rapsheeba’s eyes shined with horror. “N-No! Please….!” She started to struggle more violently.

“Now now, no need to struggle too much, my dear.” Penny told her in a soft, low voice. “I don’t want to have to hurt you too much. I still have something I would like to do afterwards, and I can’t afford you getting that badly hurt.” Rapsheeba turned swiftly to stare at her, eyes widening further. “So please try to relax. It’ll be over with before you know it…”

“No… No!” Rapsheeba screamed. But there was nothing that she could do.

sss

Drat… Looks like this wasn’t going to work out after all… Perhaps they should have tried something different. Coming here might have been a huge mistake. Maybe finding another way around would have been better. Now it was too late to go back and fix this mess before it started.

Rudy hissed softly as he glared at where Skrawl was. The massive jellybean zoner was sneering at him and Terry, and right now, Rudy was holding Terry up. He could hear the woman was still breathing. But her eyes were closed, a testimate to Skrawl’s earlier action of ramming her into the ground. Rudy wasn’t sure how long she would be like this, and that left him alone with Skrawl.

And of course, vulnerable.

Rudy could feel his body shaking as he waited to see what Skrawl was going to do. It would be easy for the massive zoner to charge at him and strike at him, too. Rudy ground his teeth together firmly, realizing that he might not be able to defend himself well enough or fast enough. Skrawl would just need to target his leg and he would be done for. Rudy still had trouble walking even with this brace on. If Skrawl took advantage of that…

Yet Skrawl still didn’t seem to move. It was hard to tell what he was waiting for. Penny? For something else to happen? Rudy wasn’t sure, but regardless, he did not take his eyes off of the jellybean zoner. He kept his body tensed up, trying to keep himself prepared for whatever was about to happen soon. Skrawl could make a move at any moment. He needed to be prepared.

He gave a partial stare down at Terry. He could feel the bump on her head and he couldn’t help but flinch. He could only image how much this hurt. He could remember her scream when her skull hit the ground. He silently hoped that it wasn’t as bad as it looked. But something told him that she was going to have to see a doctor soon. That is, if she and her can even get out of here before Skrawl got to them again. He confident in his pose and he way that he smiled at them. It seemed clear that Skrawl must have known that he had the upperhand right now.

Then Skrawl released a series of dark chuckles, something that caused ice to shoot up through Rudy’s body. He could feel a dull ache in his leg as he anticipated an attack. He tensed up, forming a small fist with his hand, and he waited to see what Skrawl was going to do next. But all the zoner did was just smirk at him, as though laughing at his efforts to keep him away.

Then Skrawl spoke, “So this is how it all ends, eh…?”

Rudy let his teeth become a little more bared, his lips curling back into a snarl. He took in a few heavy breaths and he could feel his body shaking. No doubt Skrawl knew that he was afraid. But he also wanted the zoner to know that he wasn’t going to back down still. Even if all this seemed to do was amuse Skrawl to no end, at least he knew there was still going to be some kind of fight to be had.

Skrawl made his way closer, likely confident that Rudy was not going to even attempt to draw anything. And he might actually be right on that, Rudy’s recent thoughts of not being fast enough resonating in his mind more strongly than before.

Skrawl motioned his hand towards Rudy, that smug smile appearing across his face. “Maybe I will be a good sport and let you try to get a move against me. How does that sound, artist boy? Do you think that you could use a bit of a break? I’ll even wait for you to draw. How does that sound?”

Rudy growled at this. He had a feeling that he knew what Skrawl was trying to do. He was not going to give him that luxury. Rudy cringed himself back a little, keeping his arms wrapped around Terry protectively.

The large jellybean zoner stared on in mock confusion, tapping his chin lightly as he examined Rudy like he was nothing more than a mere specimen to him. “You’re not going to bite? I thought for sure you would have taken the chance.” Skrawl’s overall tone hinted to Rudy that he had been right to refuse the so-called ‘offer’. Just another chance for Skrawl to play with his prey. “That’s a shame. The Rudy I once knew would have looked for any loophole to save his allies.”

“I am still the Rudy that you remember.” Rudy declared with confidence. He felt his chest puffing up slightly. “Just try to come at me and I will show you why I am ChalkZone’s protector!”

Skrawl was silent for a bit, as though taking into account Rudy’s words. But soon, without warning, he tilted his head back and let out a series of loud laughters. They permeated into Rudy’s soul, echoing inside of his chest. Rudy had to grab onto his chest as a part of him was worried that his heart might get damaged from how loud and booming Skrawl was laughing.

Then the laughter finally died down. Skrawl leaned his head back forward, though he still gave some chuckles. He took in a few shaky breaths as he attempted to return his laugh to something more normal. Then he stared at Rudy intently and he spoke in a deep, harsh tone of voice.

“You mean, you were this world’s protector… You are not any longer. You had failed.”

Rudy felt his whole body turn rigidly icy. He couldn’t bring himself to reply to this statement. He could feel his mind echoing with several thoughts and memories. Past guilts that he had tried to suppress coming back up to the surface.

And Skrawl just continued to rub it in.

“You didn’t do anything to stop Penny from taking over ChalkZone. You had been with her the entire time yet did nothing to persuade her. You had your chance before and after to stop her, but you failed. Face it, artist boy, you are no savior of ChalkZone.” Skrawl’s eyes narrowed deeply at this. Even though he was benefitting from the takeover himself, he still glared at Rudy with mimicked condemnation, perhaps as a way to drive his point home. “To the zoners around here, you’re just a failure, someone who didn’t save them from the clutches that they have to endure now. You will never be a hero again in their eyes, Master Tabootie…”

Rudy could feel his body shaking. He could feel an increased amount of cold chilliness overcoming him. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do if this was kept up. But he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be anything good. If Skrawl continued to keep this up…

Skrawl gave a wry smile. “Why, you’re not really much of an artist anymore, are you…?”

This caused Rudy’s eyes to go give.

“I mean, not that you never draw, but it’s mostly your comrade that does now, isn’t it? You lost most of your artistic skills, I hear, and most of your creativity. That’s such a darn shame, is it not?” Skrawl held up his hand in gesture. “So much for you being the Great Creator, am I right? Heheheheh…” Skrawl chortled to himself.

And that was the comment that finally did it. This is what caused Rudy to finally act. He didn’t give much hesitation to it. The only thing that he could fully register was putting Terry down to the ground and a few large tears escaping his eyes. He hardly noticed how Skrawl was looking at him as he got ready to attack. Rudy let his leg muscles wrap themselves up to build pressure. They got continuously stronger and stronger, to the point of near breaking.

And then, with what sounded like a resounding snap in the back of his mind, he bolted towards Skrawl.

The jellybean zoner didn’t attempt to get out of the way. He probably didn’t even have time for that. Instead, he just held almost perfectly still as Rudy rammed into him at full force. The force of the impact was strong enough to knock the wind out of Skrawl and push him into the ground. Rudy straddled him firmly and he raised up his fists. Skrawl seemed to be looking him a look of fear, but it was hard to tell. And in the moment, Rudy didn’t really care. He just tightened up his fists and he started to strike the zoner beneath him.

Skrawl’s screams of agony echoed loudly everywhere around them.

sss

Penny moved her fingers through her hair and brushed it to one side in a dramatic fashion as she stepped out of the room. Behind her, she could hear Rapsheeba sobbing. Penny only paused for a few moments to look over her shoulder. She smirked in satisfaction and then she moved her head forward once more and walked away, letting the door shut behind her and lock back up.

For Rapsheeba, this was just another list of horrible events to happen to her. Just another day for her suffer more pain and whatever else Penny decided to do with her. Penny did learn her lesson from what she had done with Rudy and she had pulled back a little. But on occasion, she would go a little further, and this was one of those times. It was something else for Rapsheeba to have to remember, even though she was going to wish that she could forget.

But for Penny herself, this was nothing more than a blip in time. It was nothing significant, just a time waster for herself. She would likely forget that this even happened and she could easily move on. Whether or not Rapsheeba would was not really of any of her concern. Rapsheeba’s cries became nothing more than distant sounds, fading away into the distance as she carried herself on, heading back outside of this building.

She could hear some of the other zoners screeching at her, at least the ones aware of what happened. She wasn’t surprised that most of the zoners near Rapsheeba’s cell had heard what was going on. They called her out for her horrendous actions, but she let their cries fall on deaf ears. It wasn’t like what they said mattered in the end. She had her supporters and no doubt they would take action if something were to happen to her.

Speaking of her supporters, she wondered how Skrawl was doing. She hadn’t gotten any word from him yet. She wondered if he had been defeated or if he was still trying to fight Rudy.

The thought of Rudy caused her to furrow her eyebrows. There was still a small part of her that did not want to actually kill him, but she had largely resigned herself to fulfill that commitment. He was a threat to her position and she knew there was no way that she could make him change his mind. Trying to brainwash him wouldn’t work as the zoners were aware of what she had done. Trying to do the same thing again might cause her to lose some grip on the zoners. Her most loyal supporters might not turn on her, but the zoners who had even an ounce of uncertainty towards her might take action if she did something like that.

Killing him might seem like it would be even worse, but this was why she had rarely ever engaged Rudy in combat and why most of those encounters didn’t involve her seriously trying to take his life. Instead, she opted to try to kill him indirectly, through means that could not be entirely pinned on her. For instance, her robotic lizards? They were her own personal patrollers, enforcers, and she could just say that they saw Rudy as a threat and were only obeying protocol. Any zoner that she sent out to attack Rudy? That could be written off as a misunderstanding. At least, so long as she used the right words, that is.

But that was enough thinking about that. It was time to head back to the monitoring room to see what had been going on. It was a good thing that she had expanded her surveillance. This made it a lot easier to keep an eye on things, and to better predict what Rudy and Terry were going to try to do.

It was a little fun having those two around, so long as it didn’t seriously impact her work. It gave her something different to do. It was like a game for her, and it was hard for her to even try to end it. But in the end, all games must come to an end, correct?

As soon as she was back in the monitoring room, she headed over to the large scope that hung overhead, which was in front of a set of several monitors constantly flashing about. There was little need for those monitors at the moment. This one that she most often used to spy on ChalkZone City was more than enough. That’s where those three were, right? She positioned herself in front of it, pushed her face against it, and proceeded to look around.

It took a little while before she could find them. She had to adjust the scope a little and there were a few blurry flashes of buildings and other things that got in the way. She eventually did find what she was looking for, around the town square, or whatever the citizens of that city call it. She froze it around here and looked around some more. Then she could see something familiar laying on the ground.

It was King Skrawl. And he was pinned down by Rudy.

Penny felt her eyes widen when she saw how badly beaten Skrawl was. His face was covered in dark purple bruises and some blood stained around his mouth. He looked as though he had a few scratches on him and his body was trembling. She couldn’t hear him, but she imagined that his breathing must be forced and raspy. She then turned her eyes to Rudy, who looked horrified at what had transpired. It was easy for Penny to tell who the attacker was, as Rudy’s fists were covered in blood. Rudy looked like he was speaking or perhaps he was silent in shock.

Penny stared at this for several long moments before she felt her teeth grinding together. So, Rudy was trying to step up his game, eh?

Well, so could she.

Adjusting her scarf so that it was wrapped more firmly around her, doing little to stop it from flapping in the air from her quick movements, Penny headed towards the balcony where she knew that Courtney would still be waiting for her. She pushed the entrance open swiftly, the loud clanging sounds being enough to startle her pet and comrade. She could hear the bird letting out a loud screech but she merely just raised her hand up to calm her down.

“Take it easy, Courtney. It’s just me.” Penny cooed to the large bird zoner. She moved her way closer to the zoner slowly, reaching her hand out to touch Courtney on the top of her large, hooked beak. “Shush now, it’s all right…” Penny stroked along the top of the beak, putting her head against Courtney’s and nuzzled her. “I just need you to do me a favor.”

There was a small ‘rak?’ kind of sound that exited Courtney’s opened beak. Penny opened her eyes partially and gave a few small chuckles to herself. Then she immediately climbed on top of Courtney’s neck and secured herself tightly there. Courtney let out a couple more squawks, stretching out her wings a little before folding them back to her body.

Penny waited until the bird stopped moving entirely before she motioned her head upwards in a quick motion. She points her finger towards where the city was, and she gave a slight nudge against the side of Courtney’s long neck. This was more than enough of an action to get Courtney to open her wings back up. She stretched them out big and wide, causing a shadow to be casted underneath them. Then, adjusting herself on the ledge, her claws sliding and scraping, she jumped off and began to dive down.

Penny held on tightly as she felt the rush of air hitting against her face. She shut her eyes tightly for a few seconds. She could feel herself going faster and faster as Courtney’s body ripped through the air. Then she could feel a sudden jerk backwards as Courtney started to pump her wings in the air, flying upwards in the air. After a few heavy beats of her massive wings, Courtney stabilized herself a good distance from the ground. She kept herself angled towards the city, heading straight towards it.

Penny knew that she was going to have to dismount Courtney before she entered the city. She couldn’t be spotted, and Courtney likely wouldn’t try to attack Rudy. She just wanted to be there to give her robotic lizards a bit of a boost. She hadn’t intended on ever doing this, but Rudy decided to force her hand. If he was going to brutalize King Skrawl, then she might have to do the same to him.

Just...not directly. No one needed to know that she was doing this.

With a wave of her hand, she had Courtney lower herself towards the ground. Penny could see some silvery movements and she knew that the robotic lizards haven’t yet reached the city. She smiled at this, as it meant that she still had time to get what she wanted done. With a loud thud, Courtney landed on the ground, lowering herself so that Penny could dismount.

Penny took a few steps in front of Courtney, narrowing her eyes as she raised her hand up over her head. She scanned her eyes left and right and soon she could see what she was looking for.

Fast moving shining shapes coming right at her.

With a smile on her face, Penny walked out a little further and raised her magic chalk. The bright sparkles pillowed outward, creating a beacon for the lizards to follow. She stood there, waiting for them to approach.

sss

Rudy stared down at his ‘handiwork’ for several long seconds, his mouth hanging open. He could feel tears forming in his eyes and he could feel some small whimpers escaping from his quivering lips. He felt cold shudders rushing through his body, slowly overwhelming him as his mouth was rapidly going dry. He shook his head slowly in denial as he did not want to believe what he had just witnessed. But what else could he be looking at? There was nothing that could justify this.

Skrawl was still breathing, but that was hardly of any comfort to Rudy. The zoner’s gasping breaths were a testament to his actions. Even if he couldn’t hear that, Rudy couldn’t deny the chalky blood that now coated his hands. Though Skrawl would likely live, the consequences of this action was going to be far reaching. He had a strong hunch that the Chalk Queen herself was not going to let him get away with this. And Skrawl… Rudy wondered if it’s him that he should be more worried about.

But it wasn’t just this that had him by the neck. Oh no, there was something far more mental at play here. He could feel his head aching, doing little to settle itself down as he clutched at it tightly, pressing his fingernails against his scalp. It didn’t matter how hard that he shook it. Nothing was going to get the thoughts out of his head.

And then came the voice, the same one that he thought that he had ditched years ago.

“Oh Bucko… You’re becoming like her, aren’t you…?”

Rudy felt his skin crawl at this voice. He couldn’t see anyone, no matter where he turned. But he recognized this voice, coming from a hallucination that pretended to be Snap. That alone was enough to infuriate him, but when combined with this kind of situation, it just became twisted.

The voice continued to taunt him. “Well if you were trying to make her proud, I’m sure you’ve succeeded.”

Grinding his teeth, Rudy hissed to no one in particular, “Shut up! Leave me alone!”

The voice chuckled darkly. “What’s the matter? You can’t handle a bit of the truth? How pathetic…”

Rudy could feel his body going rigid when he heard that. He tried to look around for the source of the voice again. He thought he would see that hallucination attempt to take Snap’s form, pretending to be him just like in the past. But he did not see anything. No matter which way that he tried to look, there was no one. Yet the voice continued to echo in his head, taunting his every move, his every thought. It echoed in his head and he could feel his hands clutching at his head even more tightly.

Rudy could then hear the hallucination laughing coldly and he swung his head in one direction. It sounded like it was coming from over this way, but when he looked, there was nothing. He gritted his teeth tightly and snorted and then tried looking elsewhere. His eyes slowly swung from one side to the other, but all he ended up doing was making his vision a little blurry.

And of course, his head started to echo even more greatly as the hallucination decided to say something about this.

“Still trying to find me? Don’t bother, Bucko.” The voice sneered. “There’s no reason for me to show my face to you any longer. I think that this is a little more fun.” There was a bit of a pause before the voice continued, “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Rudy opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly shut it. He realized that the voice was just trying to sow discord into him. This voice was nothing more than his own guilty conscience talking to him, taking on Snap’s form because… He didn’t want to know. Why was his mind toying with him like this, anyway? Hadn’t he suffered enough already? Rudy struggled to fight against the stinging tears that clung to his face.

It just wasn’t fair… He had hoped that…. He didn’t… He shut his eyes tightly and loosened his grip on his scalp. He slowly moved his hands in front of his face and pressed them against his eyes. He let out a few small strangled whimpers, horror washing over him as the stress and weight of what happened descended upon him once again.

Maybe if he had tried harder, if he had moved faster, he could have saved Snap. He could have stopped all of this from happening. He could have prevented Penny from becoming the Chalk Queen. If he could, if he did not fear the risks, he would have created a time machine to rewind time and go back to before this all happened and change things. But that would be too risky, wouldn’t it? What if he ended up making things so much worse?

But maybe it would still be better than fighting this struggle. Maybe it would be better if he took that chance if it meant a better future for ChalkZone. Maybe he should…

Suddenly he saw something rushing in out of the corner of his eye. He could see a flash of silver and he struggled to see what it was. His eyes widened upon seeing a metal robotic lizard jumping at him. The action had been so fast that he could not react to it. Rudy let out a painful grunt as he was knocked into the ground and held there, the beast’s jagged maw opening up and showing its teeth at him.

To Rudy’s horror, he realized that this was the comrade of the robot lizard that Terry had sliced up earlier.

Rudy struggled to get himself free. His legs were kicking wildly and he grabbed onto the metal legs, attempting to push them back. The creature just held on tightly, letting out a series of robotic hisses and it looked as though it was getting ready to strike. The sight of this caused Rudy’s heart to thump in his chest and he tried to push back even harder. The only thing that he ended up doing was nearly breaking his limbs in the process. He could feel himself nearly collapsing out of exhaustion, unable to take further action to protect himself.

Rudy could feel adrenaline rushing into his body. His muscles felt like they were being lit on fire and he could feel them working extra hard. He felt his body trembling with the fast-moving energy, and his eyes widened further, unable to blink. He tried again to push back against the zoner on top of him. This time, it seemed like he was making some progress. The creature was having some issues at least and he could hear its feet scraping along the ground.

But it all seemed to be for nothing. For not long after Rudy started to struggle against the creature, he could feel it shifting its body to push him back down. Rudy could feel his back whamming against the hard surface and he thought it nearly broke. His eyes widened in pain and agony and he let out a loud scream of pain. He felt the claws poking into his skin further and he could feel blood trickling down his arms. He looked at them with terror-filled eyes before looking back up at the metal beast. His breathing became out of control and he swore that he had inhaled some dust in the process.

What was he going to do? How was he going to get out of this mess? He couldn’t draw anything. Not like this. There was not enough time. There was no limb that he could use. The beast was too close. If he didn’t…

No, it could not end this way. He had to find a way out of this mess. He had to keep fighting back. Even if it looked absolutely hopeless, if he just gave up, then what was all of this for? Would it be worth it to just quit? He already knew the answer to that. He knew that he had to try. Even if he didn’t know, attempting was better.

He glared up at the creature, staring into its electronic, glowing eyes, baring his teeth. Although he was still stuck, perhaps there was still some way that he could get this thing off of him. Perhaps some way to gain the upper hand. Exactly what that was, he didn’t know. But he wasn’t about to give up. Not now. Not while there still might be a chance. He just had to keep trying. He couldn’t let himself fall into the same trap as before. The one that had led to Snap’s death… He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. No, not again.

He was not going to let Terry die because of his mistakes. He was going to make sure of that.

Rudy did the first thing that came to his mind. He gathered up as much saliva as he could in his mouth. Then he aimed it at the robotic zoner’s eye. He didn’t really know how well this was going to work. But that didn’t stop him from spitting as hard and as far as he could. While he did not hit his mark, he still hit the side of the creature’s snout. There was steam that started to rise up from where the saliva struck. Sparks of electricity shot outwards, and the robot lizard took a few moments before it reacted.

It pulled its head back swiftly, shaking it from side to side. It was hard to tell if it was reacting in pain or in shock. Whatever the case might be, it still resulted in the creature rearing up onto its hind legs. Rudy used this chance to get up onto his feet. Then, before he stopped to think about what his next move should be, he formed a fist with his hand and he struck out at the zoner, hitting the top of his knuckles against the metal zoner’s chest.

Rudy immediately regretted this. He seethed through clenched teeth as he pulled his fist back and cradled it against himself. He looked down at his hand and stroked it lightly. He thought for sure that he could see some bruises forming on his hand. He shut his eyes tightly and hissed heavily before he looked back at the lizard robot zoner.

It would seem that his actions didn’t buy him that much time. The lizard robot zoner was no longer distracted by the pain and agony of his attack. There was nothing else for Rudy to do except either try running or fight back.

But Terry was still unconscious…

Rudy narrowed his eyes into slits as he raised up his piece of magic chalk. He could feel himself shaking as he forced himself to take this action, his muscles feeling as though they had been glued together. He felt his eyes twinkling, his teeth baring, as he raised the chalk up higher. The zoner was already coming at him, but he did have time to try to draw something. Without a moment’s hesitation, he started to stroke downwards.

There was some hesitation when he recalled what Skrawl said. Rudy managed to push those thoughts aside the best that he could as he continued to draw swiftly. He did not have enough time to think of something original, nor did he have the confidence to really think of something more elaborate. He fell back on something that he knew and understood well enough.

And that was the freeze ray that he now held in his hands. He found himself staring at it for a couple nanoseconds, feeling a sense of nostalgia as he remembered when he had first used this thing. But he soon shook his head and he pulled the trigger on the freeze ray. There was a stream of colors that shot outwards, and it rapidly enveloped the lizard zoner. Rudy did not stop until the creature was trapped in a wall of solid ice.

Rudy took in several deep breaths, forcing himself to try to relax. He wiped his brow and he nearly collapsed to the ground, relieved with his close call. He didn’t attempt to rest for long, however, as he had to get Terry and leave ChalkZone. She needed help and staying here alone for too long was not going to end well for him.

And yet a part of him could not just get up and walk away. Something about that creature kept drawing him in. Normally, he would have been fine with just leaving it like that. Someone would come and find it and thaw it out. Or the DayZone sun would.

But now, as he stared at the zoner in front of him, there was a new feeling starting to rise up. He realized that if he just left the zoner here and let it thaw out, it would just come after him later. Or maybe it would even break out faster than he had expected. Was it really wise to just leave it here? Was there something else that he could do? Could there be something that ensure a longer….

Well he could…

Rudy felt his eyes grow wide at this thought. It came out of nowhere, and he felt a cold shudder. It was…. Why would he ever…

And yet he could not deny the benefits of such an action. It would indeed give him a more secure route to freedom. It would temporarily weaken the Chalk Queen as she would have one less robot. Even if it was almost pointless, any victory over her could stir the zoners. And it would at least send her a message that he was not going to be trifled with.

But could he really...kill a zoner…? Even if the outcome might have some benefits, even if just minor, could he….bring himself to do that? Sure, this was ‘just a robot’, but still, that didn’t lessen the blow that this was going to deal to him. He remembered what he did to Skrawl. Could he really…?

Rudy realized that if he spent too much time thinking about this, it was just going to make things worse. He had to make a decision now. He either had to leave the zoner or...destroy it. Yet despite knowing how dangerous the situation was, he still found himself standing there, his body shaking, unable to make any sort of move. He wasn’t sure how long that he stood here, his eyes unable to tear away from what he was seeing. He opened his mouth and he licked his lips slowly, but nothing he did seemed to speed things along. He was just setting himself up into a trap, wasn’t he?

If he didn’t move…

It took longer than he would have liked, but finally, he broke himself free of the mental lock that he had been in. He shook his head a few times and he released a low growl. He took a step forward and then he…

He couldn’t go any further. He froze in position, hearing the sound of feet slamming against the ground in the distance. He slowly turned his head to look behind him. He immediately gasped and whirled himself around, his body arching in response to what was going on. He could see the dust being kicked up, indicating how fast these newcomers were approaching. It wasn’t difficult for him to learn the identity of those coming in closer.

More robot lizards. And it looked like…. They were upgraded…?

At the sight of the glowing lines that now adorned his body, he turned his attention back to the frozen robot behind him. He could see that it too had these, and he hadn’t noticed them, too busy worrying about fighting it than taking action. And to his horror, these lines were growing brightly, spreading along its body and matching its eyes. And then the ice around it started to melt rapidly.

With his heart tightening up in horror, Rudy attempted to shift himself around to try to run off, but there was little that he could do. Though he made a valiant effort, he was quickly pinned down by one of the other robot lizards that came in and crashed up against him. With pain radiating throughout his body as the claws pressed into him, all Rudy could do was lay there and whimper. He couldn’t attempt to use his freeze ray a second time.

Rudy’s horror-filled eyes began rapidly darting around as he saw the robot lizards coming in around him. They hissed loudly at him, opening their jaws up as though preparing to eat him. And there was nothing that he could do to escape it. He let out a series of whimpers, unable to hide his fear for much longer. He could feel the lizard pinning him down push harder on him and he felt his chest being compressed, getting increasingly difficult to breathe. Then he could see one of the lizards lowering its open jaws and Rudy cringed back, shaking.

“Hold it. Don’t make another move.” A voice suddenly called out.

Rudy felt horror rushing through his body. He felt his blood immediately running cold. He didn’t want to think that he had heard what he thought he did. He wanted to believe that it was just a mere hallucination, another way for his mind to play tricks on him.

But as the shadow started to befall on him, as the lizards stepped out of the way for him to get a better look, he realized just how wrong that he had been, and how horribly right that he was.

“Hello, Rudy. Been a while, hasn’t it?”

Rudy felt his throat going dry as he stared into the eyes of the Chalk Queen, the person that he had used to more commonly refer to as Penny. The woman was glaring down at him, looking more annoyed than angry. This did not alleviate the situation one bit and he felt his heart pounding. Her words of the past echoed in his head now and he cringed himself as far back as he could. He turned his head to the side and waited for her to take action.

But instead, he felt nothing. Confused, he looked back up at her. She looked very contemplative, as though wondering what she should be doing at this moment. Her finger twirled around her hair, curling it up. Then she slipped it down and she continued to stare at him. Rudy had no idea what to think about this. The longer that Penny stayed like this, the more that his breathing increased and heart pounded heavily. He half expected her to still strike against him, but she was just...looking at him, her eyes piercing through his soul. As much as he wanted to live, he could not help but wonder one thing.

Why hadn’t she taken action yet? Didn’t she want to kill him? Was she just toying with him? Did she want to drive him made before the final blow?

Then slowly, after what felt like ages, Penny started to smile down at him. It looked almost sincere if it weren’t for the crooked edges that he took notice of. The sight of them was enough to make Rudy shudder again, a few tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to say something, but it was like his voice was robbed from him. He could only just stare up at the Chalk Queen with a continuing expression of dread and horror.

“I’m surprised to see you were, so...tangled up.” The Chalk Queen moved in closer. Rudy turned his head away. He felt his skin crawl when she cupped his chin almost gently. “Why do you act like I’m going to kill you?” She asked in a playful, taunting tone.

Rudy snarled at this, unable to believe that she would ask such a thing.

Penny chuckled at this. “What? Can’t take a joke?”

Rudy just snarled at this, but said nothing. She wouldn’t listen.

Penny continued to stare down at him with those twinkling eyes of hers. There almost looked to be something that she wanted to say or do with him. But she was deliberately holding herself back, as though she wanted to prolong this moment. Rudy could feel his stomach churning in sickness at this realization. Did Penny really just see him as some kind of toy to play with? Considering how far she had fallen, asking himself this again was pointless and moot.

Rudy tried to struggle again, but there was little room for him to go. Where could he go anyway? With Penny here, he was trapped. So long as she was here, there was nothing that he could do to get away from here. She could strike him down at any given moment, he knew. This fact caused his heart to race in fear, and he had to struggle to keep himself under control.

Penny’s mouth opened up partially, spreading outwards broader and more crooked. Her dark smile permeated his soul and Rudy felt himself whimpering loudly at the site of this. He did manage to get himself under control swiftly, but it wasn’t enough to keep Penny from releasing another chuckle. Though her hand had moved away from him, he could still feel her fingernails pressing against him in a phantom motion.

Penny slowly tilted her head to one side. Then she said, “It would be so easy to take care of you now. I have you pinned down and you are alone. There’s nobody that can come save you. I hope you can understand this, little Rudy.” She lowered her hand down a second time. “And to think….this could have been avoided if you had just stayed a good obedient little boy and didn’t force me to banish you from this place…”

Rudy shuddered and growled as the woman slowly and gently stroked his cheek. He wanted to jerk his head away. Something in the back of his mind prevented him from doing so. A faint memory of what had happened to him the last time that he tried to defy the queen…

Penny let her thumb drag lazily across Rudy’s lips, startling him as the woman giggled, “It would be too big of a shame to just let you go that easily. You’re just too much fun. Besides...this isn’t what I had hoped for.” Penny removed her hand to scratch her chin thoughtfully, tilting her head upwards. “No, this would be too disappointing. I mean, defeating you this easily? WIthout much of a fight? With no fanfare? How boring!”

“Ugh…!” Rudy instinctively started to struggle, unable to stop himself. He bared his teeth defensively at Penny. “What the hell...are you getting at..?”

Penny smirked down at Rudy. “What I am getting at, dear Rudy, is that I don’t want to simply let you go this early. Don’t worry, the time to die will come eventually…” She ran her fingers through Rudy’s hair playfully. Rudy grunted sharpy and turned his head away, snarling at her. Penny just shrugged nonchalantly and said, “But it will not be today.”

Rudy wasn’t sure how to take this. Not dying did sound like a good idea, but he knew that Penny was only going to let him go to get some more ‘fun’ out of him. He was not freed of her grasp just yet and he knew that there was no escaping the situation that he got himself in. Penny could let him go, but a part of him doubted that she was going to do that. No, with the look in her eyes, it seemed like she had something else planned entirely. He did not like that smile spreading across her face.

The Chalk Queen pulled herself back and made a quick motion to one of the robotic lizards. “You, take Ms. Bouffant to the Quartz Prison. I haven’t yet decided what I am going to do with her.” She then looked at another one. “You, take Skrawl to get treated. Make it a top priority.” Then another. “You will go to Craniac and give him my report. I also have a special job for him.”

Rudy noticed Penny starting to smile devilishly at him for a few seconds. Then her gaze tilted sideways, looking directly at the robot reptile holding him down.

“And as for you… bring Rudy to my castle. I would like to make some….arrangements that I’m sure he’ll find…” Penny leaned in towards Rudy, smirking as she tapped her fingers together. “...interesting…”

Rudy tried to look brave, but he could not stop himself from shaking. Just what in the world did Penny have in mind for him?


	5. Challenge

Stupid… So stupid…

This hadn’t been part of the plan. Why’d she have to do something like this? Wasn’t this just paving the way for trouble? She should have just let her robotic lizard servants finish off Rudy. They had the extra power. So why not use it? She realized that she might end up regretting this eventually.

But there was a small part of her that did not care, and that part was the one in control. She had already committed to this and she had to go through with it. And besides, she might end up having even more fun doing this. She hadn’t been lying to the boy when she said that she wanted his defeat to be something worthwhile. He must be so confused by this, but for Penny, it made a lot of sense.

After all, he used to be ChalkZone’s great protector, and she had fought alongside him once. She had admired him before and she had seen what he was capable of. If she defeated him without him giving it his all, that was just a disservice. Shameful...

But Rudy should rest assured, she will kill him in due time. If he performed well enough though, maybe she will grant him a swift and painless death.

Penny did have some thoughts of what she was going to do. She was still debating on what particular action to take, and she might need a little bit more time. But she would think of something soon. She just needed a few moments to think of it. By the time that she got Rudy into her throne room, she would make up her mind. Even if she wasn’t yet certain if she was fully committed to the idea, she’ll do it. It would be a lot more fun than just standing around doing nothing that’s for sure.

And far, far more entertaining than just killing him off swiftly.

She could hear Rudy grunting behind her. She turned her head slowly to see Rudy moving in slowly. He was a few feet away from her, but he was not trying to escape. How could he, anyway? He was in no position to leave. He was constantly being pressured to move on by the robot lizard that walked in behind him. The metal beast snapped its jaws at him, making Rudy yelp and hurry forward. This in turn caused him to yelp and clutch his leg a few times. The sight of this made Penny smile, but she said nothing and looked away.

They continued on forward, slowly making their way towards the throne room. It would not take them long to reach it. They could get there faster if they quickened up their pace. But Penny wanted to deliberately move slower, just to annoy Rudy a little more. It was fun, and he did deserve a little of it.

Once they reached the throne room door, she raised her hand up to stop the beast from moving any closer. Rudy hunched his body and his feet scraped the ground as though trying to get away. The robot lizard was quick to take action and it pressed its foot on Rudy, knocking him down. Rudy let out a series of groans before looking up and staring in Penny’s direction with wide eyes.

Satisfied with this, Penny simply smiled as she made her way towards the door. She pulled the lever to one side, which caused the bar to crank upwards, opening up her throne room for access. She kept it locked mostly to keep Skrawl from trying to mess around with it. She still suspected that he might try something again eventually.

With a motion of her hand, they all started to head into the throne room directly. She could hear Rudy grunting behind her as he was being pushed and dragged by the metal lizard behind him. No matter what he tried, he was forced into the throne room, and the beast took position by the door. There was no need to fear Rudy drawing something to get away. His magic chalk had been confiscated. All the boy could do was make a few quick attempts to get around the metal lizard, stopped by the long, segmented, sharp-tipped tail. Realizing that he could not get away, he was forced to turn his attention back to Penny, narrowing his eyes fearfully.

Penny just turned herself around and walked across the large room, covered in red velvet carpeting. She headed up the few small steps that separated her from her tall, golden throne. It was similar to the one that Skrawl had given her in the past, only more elaborate and made bigger to suit her older self.

Resting her chin on her curved hand and leaning forward, Penny said, “You may approach me, Rudy.” When she saw the boy was not budging, she repeated, “Come on. I’m not going to bite. I have something to talk to you about and it would be easier if you would just come closer.”

Rudy bit his lip and still hesitated. But he still somehow managed to force himself to get closer. He took slow, steady steps towards her. He started to lower his head the closer that he got, indicating that he was getting more and more nervous and didn’t want to do anything to cause her to attack. He was a smart little boy for doing that.

Once Rudy was close enough, she raised her hand up and said, “That will be enough.” Rudy stopped himself and held his hands together, rubbing the nervously. Penny would have forced him to kneel before her, but she would rather just keep speaking with him. She wondered how he was going to feel about her idea. She decided to commit to it. “I think I know a way that we can settle our differences.”

Rudy moved his head up quickly and stared at her with a confused expression.

Penny continued, “I’m sure you can agree with me that this little runaround of ours is getting rather annoying, wouldn’t you say? Don’t you think that we should find a way to end things once and for all?” She leaned herself back into her throne chair. “I think that maybe we should come up with something, like...say...a challenge…?”

Rudy slowly narrowed his eyes. “A challenge?” He cocked his head to one side. “How do I know that this isn’t just some way to prolong your little fun?”

Penny couldn’t stop herself from chuckling at this. “Oh Rudy, you are so funny! Where ever did you get an idea like that?”

“Stop stalling things, P… Chalk Queen…” Rudy hissed under his breath. “I know you just drug me here to finish me off. So why don’t you get on with it?”

Penny blinked at this. “I thought I told you that I was not going to kill you today.”

Rudy gave a shaky, bitter smile. “Do you think I’m going to buy that bullcrap?”

Penny just smiled. “Touche, Rudy. I suppose you have a good point there. Well then…” Penny got up from her throne and, with her arms folding behind her back, she approached Rudy slowly. “How about I offer you something a little more...enticing…?”

She could see the way that Rudy was shifting a little at this. It was hard to tell if he was actually interested in what she was saying, or if he was just being cautious of her and wondering what she was going to get it. She thought that he kind of looked cute so confused like this, but she did not dwell on it too much. She stroked her finger through her hair in a dramatic fashion and swung her head to one side as she proceeded to explain the situation.

“I can’t really make you say yes to this, but maybe you will consider it? The reward might be worth it for you.” Penny said, dragging things on a little on purpose just to see how Rudy was reacting. She thought he looked pretty cute with how he was narrowing his eyes at her like that, his fingers slowly curving inward. But it didn’t really matter what he did, as he was not going to be able to stop her. Not while he was chalkless. She continued, “I understand that you might have grown soft and weak over the years. You have not used the chalk much, have you?” She tilted her head to one side as she saw him narrow his eyes at her. “I will take that as a yes.” Penny stated before she smiled. “You still have your determination, however. I like that.”

“Enough of this!” Rudy shouted as he flattened his hand and sliced it to one side. “Just tell me what you want! I know there’s a reason for this!”

Penny went silent at this, her face growing still and firm, her lips stretching straight and taunt. She forced out a sigh and she said, “Of course, Rudy. If you were that eager to get started on your path to death, you could have just waited.” She then smiled again. “I was getting right on with it.”

Rudy’s body shook as he took a few steps back. “Why would I do something that’s going to kill me?!” Rudy shook his head, his eyes filling up with the intent to leave. No doubt about it, if the metal lizard was not guarding the door, Rudy would have been making a run for it. That much, Penny knew for certain. “Y-You’re not going to…!”

“Oh Rudy…” Penny said as she shook her head slowly. She moved in slowly towards the boy. She saw how he was trying to speed away from her, forcing her to rush over swifter and grab onto his shoulder. She squeezed it tightly so that he could not try to get away. Rudy grunted a little, but he eventually stayed put. “Just hold on there. I have not yet told you my idea. Don’t you want to hear it?”

“Not if I’m going to get kill…” Rudy started to say.

Penny silenced him when she pushed her other hand against his mouth. As he gave out muffled sounds, she explained, “That’s only if you lose.”

Rudy murmured a muffled, “Huh?”

Penny smiled as she saw that Rudy was starting to relax his body. She was glad for this. It would make things a little easier. She nodded her head slowly as she pulled her hands away from him. “Yes, of course!” She spread her hands outward. “I am not simply sending you to your death. I want to play a little game with you.” She put her hands together, rubbing them in an almost excited fashion. “A challenge that is ‘worthy’ of someone like you.”

Rudy’s lip curled up slowly at this. But he didn’t attempt to leave. It seemed clear to Penny that his interest has somewhat peaked, even if it was only because it might offer him some hope. “What do I get if I win this ‘game’?”

Penny’s smile stretched further across her face, almost distorting it. It would seem that she got Rudy to start biting the bait. “You get to drag me back into the Real World to lock me away, or whatever it is that you want to do with me.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in shock at this. He stared at Penny like this for several moments before he shook his head and took a step backwards, snarling softly. “Why the hell should I believe you?”

Penny put a hand to herself, twisting her head to one side while her body seemed to move in the other. “Why Rudy, don’t you trust me?” She asked, her tone a slightly mock sadness.

“I stopped trusting you when you threatened to kill me…” Rudy pointed out to her.

“I see. Fair enough.” Penny said softly. She began to circle Rudy slowly, her body slightly hunched as she studied him like he was a specimen for her to experiment on. “I am going to leave the decision up to you. But really think about it for a moment, Rudy.” She continued to walk around him like a vulture, licking her lips slowly like she was getting ready to pounce on him. “Isn’t this what you wanted? Isn’t this what you were always about? Jumping on the most logical chance to stop someone from doing what you don’t like? You weren’t afraid to exploit Reggie Bullnerd all those years ago, as I recall.”

Rudy’s body trembled.

Penny just continued to smile. “I’m waiting, Rudy.”

Rudy didn’t answer for several long moments. It was apparent that the boy was struggling with his thoughts to think of an answer. It was also obvious that he didn’t want to give in, but there was...something about her offer that was intriguing him. Something that could not pull him away. Whatever the case might be, Penny had fun watching him struggle and squirm like this.

When she saw that he still could not decide, she figured that a different approach was warranted. “Do you need me to explain things?”

Rudy slowly nodded his head cautiously.

“Okay then…” Penny replied. “Here’s the lowdown…”

sss

“You want me to do what?!”

“What do you say?”

“Wh-Why the hell would I even agree to something like this?! The result, if it goes wrong…”

“Then I suppose you don’t care that much about ChalkZone then.”

“That’s not tr…!”

“Whatever you say, Rudy. It’s all up to you. I’m giving you a chance to save ChalkZone, and yes the stakes are high. But that would make it all the more rewarding in the end, wouldn’t it?”

Rudy couldn’t think of anything to say to this. He kept himself still and quiet, his hands forming into small fists as he gritted his teeth. He couldn’t stop the many thoughts from racing through his head, pounding heavily as he realized what this could all mean.

Penny continued, “I should warn you. I don’t keep offers open like this for long. I recommend you hurry up with a decision before I change my mind and just decide to kill you.”

Rudy turned to glare at her, trying to hard to hide the fear in his eyes. He could see how she was looking at him and he gave a shudder. He felt his body cringe and his expression weakening. He forced himself to look away slowly, his eyes staring off into the distance. He breathed in and out forcibly slow as he tried to figure out what he was going to do now. How was he going to handle this situation?

Penny did offer him a chance to do something about her, but what it entailed… Would it even be worth the risk? He felt his tongue moving over his lips dryly and he forced himself to swallow, as though that was going to make all of his fears go away. If anything, all it did was enhance them, forcing him to keep thinking about them in his head, unable to stop.

How could Penny think that he would so readily agree to this…? Rudy let her words echo in his head.

She had told him that there was something that she would like. A particular type of chalk that she had dubbed a spark chalk. She claimed that, according to her research, this chalk would be able to turn humans into zoners while still retaining the ability to use the magic chalk. Such a thing was dangerous for obvious reasons, and if any random zoner found it, they could, in theory, gain the power to use magic chalk. The thought made Rudy shudder. He could not begin to imagine what would have happened if Skrawl or Craniac ever got a hold of that.

But it didn’t stop there. Penny went further to explain that she intended on using the chalk to completely cut ties with the Real World, so she no longer had a reason to go back. This meant that if she had her way, she would never be caught, and as a zoner, she would never age. She could potentially rule over this world unhindered, becoming the permanent queen of ChalkZone. It was enough to make Rudy’s skin crawl.

The deal that the Chalk Queen had given him is that after he brought the spark chalk back, she and him would have a duel. This fight would determine the fate of ChalkZone. If Rudy one, he could break the spark chalk and drag Penny into the Real World where she will finally get a taste of justice karma.

...but if the Chalk Queen herself was the one who had won…

Rudy gulped as he moved his hand along his throat. He could already feel the Chalk Queen tearing it open, killing him swiftly. And that would be if he were lucky that she was that merciful. She might end up doing something worse and far more painful and slow.

But it wasn’t his death per say that had him troubled. He was fearful of what would happen afterwards. What would the Chalk Queen do if she suddenly had no reason to leave, and no fear of being done in by time itself? Rudy felt a lump forming in his throat as he fought back nausea. That sort of fate for ChalkZone was worse than just outright destroying it.

Rudy struggled to think of what he should say, what he should do. He had to make a choice. If he didn’t accept it, then Penny had promised that she would kill him anyway, so there was little option. And at least her deal seemed to offer a way to stop her for good. That is, if she bothered to hold her end of the deal…

Rudy felt a small twinkle in his eyes. He had an idea that might force Penny to be bound by this deal of hers. To ensure that she did not try to crawl above it.

“If I agree to this, perhaps we should create a contract out of it?” Rudy said. He tried to sound as calm and as sure of himself as possible. “Something that would bind his both to this deal of yours? So that neither of us can slip away from it?”

The Chalk Queen tapped her chin thoughtfully, contemplating this. She gave a low humming sound to herself as she considered his suggestion. Then she moved her hand towards him slowly and said, “Do you have any ideas on what we could use? Perhaps a piece of paper?”

Rudy shook his head. Then he raised his finger up and he moved in out in front of him. He could tell that the Chalk Queen was not getting it, judging from her confused expression and her head and shoulder tilting one way. Rudy still wasn’t sure about this, but this could at least be something that would be difficult to throw out and could not be simply denied. Then after holding his finger like this for several moments, he spoke one thing. “Blood contract.”

Slowly, the woman’s eyes started to widen in shock. “Wh-What…?” She whispered softly. “You want me to agree to do a blood contract with you?”

Rudy nodded his head. He then started to smile at her. “Unless you are too afraid to.”

“Hmph!” Penny grumbled. She folded her arms in front of herself this time, bending her body down as she went level with him. She stared into his eyes and studied him in silence, perhaps testing to see just how much he meant his words. “...is this the only way that you will accept my challenge…?”

Rudy said nothing as he nodded his head.

Penny released a low grumble as she rubbed her head. “Grr.. Well fine, I suppose it can be worked in.”

Rudy was a little surprised that she had agreed to this so easily. But perhaps it was because she found more benefit in finding this item than simply killing him outright. That was enough to tell Rudy just how serious this really was. If he slipped up… What had he gotten himself into…?

And now it was too late to take it back. Rudy did know that this was the best path to take, though. Just as Penny found more worth in it by becoming immortal, Rudy himself could get the chance to make the woman pain for what she had done in the past. She had been skirting around fate for long enough. It was about time that this changed.

Rudy was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt something hitting against him. He scrambled to catch whatever it was. He looked down and he saw that it was a small knife. He stared at it for a few moments before looking back at Penny, blinking his eyes slowly. He saw that she herself had a knife as well and she was getting it ready. She wasn’t even bothering to toy with it to scare him like he thought would happen. She just moved it closer to the palm of her hand. She looked over at Rudy and gave him a steady glare.

“Are you ready?” Penny asked quietly.

Rudy felt a quick tinge racing through his body at this and he looked at the knife that he held. He moved them to his left palm and he shuddered at the pain that he knew would transpire. He gritted his teeth as he looked up at Penny.

But despite his fear, he knew that he had to do this. This had been his idea and if he backed out of it just because he was a little scared, then…. He furrowed his eyes deeply as he pressed the blade against his left palm. He gave a silent nod in Penny’s direction.

“All right then.” Said Penny. “Three….two….one! Go!”

In unison, the two humans sliced their knives downward along their skin. The blade sunk into their palms and sliced up the flesh. They both winced in pain and stifled a cry. Rudy resorted to biting his own tongue to make sure that he did not scream loudly. He could soon feel blood soaking his hand and pouring towards the ground.

Looking over at Penny, he saw that she was clutching her hand as well, her expression that of something a little fearful. It gave Rudy pause as it caused him to think of how Penny had used to be as a child, and it brought up bitter memories and a foul taste in his mouth. He tried to shrug it off as he forced himself to get closer to her. She paused and looked over him, almost glaring like before. Then she straightened herself out and moved her injured hand towards him. Rudy reached his out in response.

Then the two grabbed each other’s hands. They pressed their palms firmly against one another, causing each other’s wounds to sting sharply. It was a little difficult to pull off considering they were both using their left hands for this. But they managed to accomplish it and they began to shake hands slowly up and down.

Once they were finished, they immediately backed off away from each other. They stared at each other tensely, gritting their teeth and getting ready for a fight from the other person. They stayed like this for several seconds before the Chalk Queen finally broke the silence, a smile starting to spread along her face.

“It is done…” Penny said calmly. She raised her hand up, twisting it around to examine it before raising it up, showing Rudy the reddened gash she now adorned. “We are both bound by this contract and these marks shall serve as our reminders.”

Rudy took a moment to look down at his own cut. He almost shuddered as he saw how much it mirrored the one that Penny had done to herself.

“And so, now that we are bound together, our fate sealed…” Penny moved in closer to Rudy. She towered over him, making him look and feel small. “How about we get things started?”

Rudy cringed away from her for a few moments. Then, in an effort to make himself look braver, he nodded his head slowly.

sss

“Yeowch! Watch it!” Skrawl snarled when the servant zoner pressed a cloth against his wound. “You’re making the pain worse!”

The zoner rolled his eyes. “Sir, if you would just hold still, this would go a lot smoother.”

Skrawl growled at the zoner and felt the urge to strike him. The only thing that kept him from doing that was all the pain that echoed along his body. Even moving his arm was rather cumbersome. He could only just cave into the zoner’s commands and force himself to relax. “F-Fine…” He hissed lowly. “Just get it done and over with already…”

The zoner gave a few small chuckles. “This ain’t no picnic for me either, sir.” There was some dry humor in the zoner’s voice. “I promise I will be done with this as soon as possible. Then we won’t need to have to worry about each other.”

Skrawl grumbled, “Just do it..”

“Okay, good sir.” The zoner said almost mockingly before proceeding.

Skrawl felt stings racing up through his arm as the doctor zoner started to compress a warm cloth against it, moving it carefully along its surface. It was being concentrated on a few spots in particular, where some cuts made her way on his flesh. It was these areas that stung and forced him to struggle to keep his mouth shut.

That stupid human… How dare he do something like this to him…

Skrawl felt his teeth grinding together as he thought of Rudy and what that stupid child had done to him. This had been all his fault. He was the reason that he was suffering like this. He was the reason why he was in so much pain. As soon as he got his hands on him, he would make him sorry for daring to do something like that to the king of ChalkZone.

Yes, there were so many things that he could do to the boy. He could break his arms and force him to try to draw like that. He could snap one of his legs in two and try to see how well he could walk with that. There were a number of cruel, twisted things that he could do to him to pay him back for what he did to him. He didn’t care if he were ending up similar to Penny for doing this. He just wanted to make Rudy suffer for torturing him like that. He was going to…

“Ouch!” Skrawl let out a loud yelp of pain when the doctor zoner applied some ointment to one of his facial cuts.

“Shh! Hold still!” The doctor zoner told him. “I’m not done with this yet! Just keep your face still for a moment!”

Skrawl growled at this before forcing himself to do what the zoner asked of him. He struggled and tried his best not to let out more cries of agony as the zoner attempted to treat the cut on his face. He flinched some more as the pain sizzled and spread along his face. It was a little hard to tell if the doctor zoner was really being as gentle as possible, or if he was just doing this on purpose to annoy him a little. Either way, Skrawl had to struggle to keep himself from slapping the zoner across the face.

Then after a while, the doctor zoner appeared to have finished. He pulled himself away and looked at Skrawl up and down, as though trying to see if there was anything else that he could do for the moment. Then after appearing to determine the answer was ‘no’, he lowered his supplies down and pulled out the bandages.

Skrawl muttered, “You’re turning me into a mummy, aren’t you?”

The doctor zoner chortled at this. “Well if it means that you will be up and returning to being our king…”

Skrawl could detect the sarcasm in the zoner’s voice. “Very funny.” He said to him with a hissing voice. “You don’t need to rub it in.”

The doctor zoner just shrugged his shoulders. “That is correct. But I’m still bound by my duty as this castle’s physician. Even though I will not lie and say that I enjoy your company, I still have to do this. So don’t make this any harder on myself. I hate this as much as you do.”

Skrawl just rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You are so lucky that you are good at your job.” He pointed his long, sharp claw at the small zoner close to him. “Or else I would have had your hide tanned long ago.”

The doctor just sneered at him, “Unless the Chalk Queen says otherwise?” Skrawl was silent at this. The doctor continued, “She has you on a leash, doesn’t she?”

“Shut up!” The jellybean zoner snarled at the doctor zoner. He knew what he was up to and it was not going to work. He already had a mutual agreement with the queen and it had worked out well enough. He was not about to taint that by listening to some hearsay from this stupid zoner. “Just….do your job! Or perhaps you want to take this to the Chalk Queen herself…? Since you seem fond of her…”

It was at this point that the zoner appeared to pale, showing signs of fear. Skrawl couldn’t help but chuckle darkly at this, amused by the way that the zoner was now looking at him. He knew it. For all his talk and snark before, this zoner was still like all the others ‘employed’ by the Chalk Queen. Terrified of messing up, submissive to her. Even if a few of them don’t respect King Skrawl, they shudder at the thought of being forced to confront the Chalk Queen herself.

“I can easily call her in here, you know. I am sure there’s plenty you want to talk to her about.” Teased Skrawl. “Why, all I would have to do is…”

“Please don’t…!” The zoner cried out. Then he stopped himself and fumbled with his fingers. “Look, I’m...sorry, okay? Please don’t let the queen know about any of this.”

Skrawl leaned himself away and spoke in a playful tone of voice, “You drive such a hard bargain! I will have to think about this. Let me consider….”

Skrawl did little more than just pretend to think while the doctor zoner shivered at whatever possible response that he had. This was more entertaining to Skrawl than he thought it would be. Perhaps he would just focus on doing this instead of burning his insides trying to imagine what he would do to Rudy.

Speaking of Rudy, whatever happened to that little punk…?


	6. Inner Thinkings

Penny still had trouble believing that she had actually agreed to do this. And all for something that she herself didn’t know existed or not. And she was entrusting Rudy of all people to go fetch it for her. How did she know that he could be trusted not to break it when he found it? It did not matter if she could still watch him even from that place, it made no difference in her ability, or rather inability, to stop him.

Even with this contract that they just made…. Penny stared down at her hand carefully. She let her fingers flex slowly, opening and shutting her hand repeatedly. She snorted softly before she stared out ahead in her empty throne room. She had permitted Rudy to leave for now. They were going to meet up again later. They both agreed that they should wait before getting things started. Wouldn’t want to worry anyone in the Real World, right?

So what was she going to do to prepare when he got back? What could she do to make sure that Rudy kept his word? She did want to be certain that Rudy could not back out of it. A mere visual reminder was not going to be enough. Perhaps there was something that she could create that would ensure for certain that Rudy was bound to this little challenge that he let himself become a part of.

Tapping her chin softly, she felt her mouth corners rising upr, a though coming to her mind. There was something that she could do. Create some kind of ring to make him wear, but how would she do this without him getting suspicious? He might realize what she was trying to do and find a way to remove it. So ensuring that it stayed on was a top priority.

But how was she going to go about that? Perhaps tricking Rudy into thinking it was something absolutely important? Make him believe that if he tried to remove it, he was just going to make things worse? There were a number of things that she could try, but she had to be careful of how she went about it. If she slipped up once, that would be all that Rudy needed in order to realize what was going on. There was not going to be any turning back after that.

The woman pressed her arm against her icy cold throne chair’s arm. She ignored the chilliness that spread along her skin as she leaned against it, her hand gripping the side of her face and rubbing it slowly. She went into deep thought, searching her mind for something that might be helpful for her. There surely had to be something that could work, correct? If she just thought hard enough, she might be able to figure out something.

But in the end, all that she could think of doing is just telling Rudy the ring would help guide him or something, and that removing it might bring about danger. She had heard of the place she was sending him off two was fraught with danger.

The Twisted Forest.

What a name…

And so fitting of this situation. It would be easy for her to fool Rudy with the ring using a place like that. It would be easy to fool him into believing that the ring was making things less dangerous and his wild imagination would just do the work for her, putting Rudy in danger as need be. And it would serve as a way of making Rudy not so willing to remove the ring, as though doing so would cause the end of his life.

It was sneaky and underhanded. And she absolutely loved it. Her mouth curled into a twisted smile, almost matching the description of the forest itself.

But she was not yet quite down. There was still something else that she needed to do before all of this could even begin. And that was that she needed to speak to Craniac. She did tell one of her robotic lizards to go fetch him for her. He wasn’t that far away. She wondered for a moment what was taking so long. Perhaps she should look at the monitor and take a look for herself?

But that turned out to not be needed. She could hear footsteps rapidly approaching and it was easy for her to recognize those foot falls. Scraping along the ground, the clanging of metal, the rolling of a singular wheel… She waited patiently as she saw the zoners coming towards her, entering her throne room from the massive opening. They were shrouded in darkness for a few seconds. Then when they got closer, they started becoming recognizable, the shadows moving off of them so that she could see them better.

The robot lizard assigned to Craniac was moving in closer behind him, as though making sure that he did not try to leave. Craniac himself was moving in closer, his body lowered a little, like he was trying to show her some respect. He had a hard time getting too close to her, it would seem, and it looked like it took all of his strength to even position himself where he was now. He then appeared to swallow hard as he took a small bow in front of the Chalk Queen.

“Greetings, your highness. I have been informed that you required my presence?”

Penny smiled at this. She put her hands together and tapped her fingers against one another. “Oh yes, I do feel that I need your expertise in this area. You see, I…”

“What happened to your hand?” Craniac said, cutting her off as he pointed his hand towards her. “Did…”

“That’s part of why I wanted to talk to you. But it isn’t the whole picture. There is more, and don’t worry. You will come to understand it. Now…” Penny motioned her finger slowly. “Get closer so that we may talk more….comfortably….”

Craniac appeared to still hesitate a little. He looked around himself for a few seconds before the robot lizard ‘encouraged’ him to get closer. Craniac trembled slightly as he moved in closer. “Y-Yes, m-ma’am…?”

sss

Many thoughts were racing through his mind. He didn’t know what to think of this situation. He didn’t know if he had chosen the right path or not. Should he have listened to her? Should he have caved into her offer? Should he have resisted and fought back? Or would he even have an option in that?

Rudy could feel this and more thoughts racing through his mind. They crowded around inside of him, refusing to give him any chance to calm himself down. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, forcing himself to clutch at it to try to calm down his heart. Though it felt as though nothing he did would settle things down. If anything, it was getting even worse.

Rudy lifted his head up a little, turning it to one side, licking his lips slowly. He tried to remind himself that he was back in his room, that he was nowhere near the Chalk Queen, that she wasn’t watching his every move.

Though he admit to admit, it felt like this was the case.

Rudy forced himself to sigh, realizing that he had already committed and if he backed out of it, surely Penny would take some kind of action to make him regret it. She was that kind of person. He could only hope that she would honor her side of the deal and she would do what she said that she would. Though he had to admit, he didn’t have much hope for that.

But what else was he going to do? He had very little options here. He had little allies in ChalkZone that could help him make sure that she fulfilled her end of the bargain. She could easily go back on her word, even with the mark on her palm signifying their bond to the contract.

At this, Rudy looked down at his hand. He recalled how his aunt and cousin reacted when he came in with this thing. They were very shocked and asked him what was wrong. Rudy didn’t know if they bought his story or not. It was all that he could think of to tell them. At least they didn’t pester him for too long on it. That gave him some time to try to relax and think of what he was going to do.

But it was pointless doing that, wasn’t it? He’d often thought about that same question. Now he should not think of what he could do, and instead think of a plan to fulfill. He needed to beat Penny when the time came. He needed to outsmart her.

Yet could he do that...?

Rudy shook his head a few times as he tried to get the uneasiness and nervousness off of himself. None of it was going to aid him in this. None of it was going to make things easier. He would think of something in due time, he was certain. That was all that he could hope for.

For now, it was time for rest. He needed his strength for the next day or so. He didn’t know when exactly the challenge was going to start. He would first need to figure out a way that he could stay in ChalkZone for a while without his aunt and cousin getting suspicious. They would notice him gone a day, unless they were tricked into thinking he was going to be elsewhere. That...was going to be fun to figure out.

He was no longer in school, so he couldn’t use ‘field trip’ as an excuse. Though that would only buy him a day if he was lucky. But what else could he use? A camping trip? Maybe, but that didn’t seem entirely feasible. They would want to either go with him or check up on him.

Oh come on, there had to be something that he could do...

Bah, he was losing precious sleep. This was something that he was just going to have to think about later. The more he thought about this, the harder it was going to be to head to bed. A good night’s sleep might help clear his mind.

And maybe after that, he could think of something that would help aid him in all of this. He could at least hope so.

Rudy put his hand in front of his face as he started to yawn broadly, feeling his jaw muscles stretch out. He patted against his mouth a few times, feeling a few tears moving out of his eyes. He crawled into bed and adjusted himself under the covers. He laid there for several long moments, his eyes slowly closing as he started to drift off. The only thing that was slowing this down was the fear and worry of what the heck he had gotten himself into.

But he had plenty of time to worry about this. His shut eyes tightened up as he focused on sleeping, taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly. He then stayed like this for several moments. Then he could feel himself starting to drift off into sleep.

But then suddenly...

“Rudy!”

The young man let out a yelp of pain as he felt the full weight of another human being landing against his stomach. He shot himself straight up as his eyes bulged wide open. He sat there and looked around left and right rapidly as he tried to find whoever had done this. Then he looked down and he could see Sophie there, holding onto him firmly.

Once he had caugh this breath, Rudy cried out, “Sophie?! What are you doing?! Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep?!” Rudy didn’t mean to yell like this and he did feel guilty when he saw the way that his cousin was looking at him. But he wished that she would understand that this was not appropriate behavior to engage in.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered softly. “I’m just so worried about you. I mean, with your hand...”

Although he did understand where his cousin was coming from, and he understood why she was upset, this was not the time to really be talking about this. He needed his rest for something that was quite important and he couldn’t be forced to stay up and try to calm down his little cousin. He had already tried to explain things to her without giving away the secret of ChalkZone. He didn’t know what more he could tell her without revealing its existence.

“Just go to bed, Sophie.” Rudy grumbled as he laid himself back down. He attempted to twist his body away from her. He managed to knock her a little, though he had very little room to manuever. “I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”

Sophie let out a low grumble. “You never tell me anything.”

Rudy kept himself laying down. Sophie was likely just attempting to trick him into sitting up and speaking with her directly. But that was just going to waste time. If he wanted a chance to have any energy...

Sophie moved in closer and grabbed onto his shoulders. She started to shake him a little roughly. “Come on, I’m your family! Don’t I deserve to know what happened?”

Rudy barely gave her a glance. “I’ve already told you.”

“Feh, you think I’m going to believe that?” Sophie tilted her head to one side. “It would take significant force to slice your hand with a pair of scissors through a simple miscut.”

Rudy flinched at this. He was thankful that Sophie didn’t seem to see it. He should have realized just how bad that story was. It would seem that Sophie was not as naive as he hoped that she’d be in this case. But then again, she was an artist like him. Of course she would realize the fallacy in his claim while his aunt just bought it like he had hoped. Or did she see something wrong with the story as well?

Rudy wasn’t really sure what he was going to do exactly with Sophie. He doubted that simply comforting her through talk was going to help. And ignoring her might make things worse. If she became too worried for him, that would cause her to try to find out where he was going, and if she discovered ChalkZone...

His blood immediately ran cold at the prospect of her finding Penny in ChalkZone. What would Penny do to her? Would she try to use her as leverage? The thought was enough to make him feel sick. He needed to do whatever he could to make sure that something like this would never happen to his cousin. He could never live with himself if something happened to her because of him or...

“Rudy...?” Sophie whispered softly.

Rudy opened his eyes and he realized that he had grabbed onto Sophie and held her close to him without him realizing that he was doing it. He looked down and he could see the shocked look in his cousin’s eyes. Then he just pulled himself closer to her, pressing his head against the crook of her neck. He couldn’t bring himself to let go. How could he? He just....

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed like this. He didn’t know if his cousin tried to say anything else. He didn’t know if she was frightened by this or just confused. All that he knew, all that he cared about, was just holding onto her tightly, afraid to let her go. He could feel his body shaking and quivering, and he was only aware of his crying when he could feel a finger moving underneath his eyes. He opened them up and he looked at Sophie.

The teenager was looking at him sadly. If she were struggling earlier, she had stopped already. She was reaching out towards him and caressing his cheek. It looked like she could understand that he was going through something emotional. That must be why she leaned in towards him swiftly before he could say a word, pressing the side of her face against his chest, listening to his heart thumping loudly. Rudy felt himself stiffen up a little at this, wondering if he should let her go or not. Then he just kept his arms around her and held on firmly.

“I love you, Rudy.” He could hear Sophie whisper. “I don’t know why you won’t talk to us. I hope that you understand how much we care about you...”

Rudy looked down at Sophie sadly, feeling his heart twist at how she was speaking to him. Then he forced himself to smile as he moved his hand over her and nudged his head against her.

“I understand.” He whispered under his breath.

sss

Skrawl blinked his eyes a few times as he stared at the Chalk Queen. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder if he had heard right. Did she really just tell him what he thought that she did? The idea sounded ludicrous. But this was the Chalk Queen he was speaking to. She seemed fond of taking risks like this when it came to Rudy Tabootie.

Still, could he have gotten a little too far this time? What did she have to gain from this? And why couldn’t she just get the stupid thing herself?

“I know what you must be thinking right now, Skrawl.” Penny spoke up, startling Skrawl with how sudden it was. He could see her turning her head to look behind her, smirking at him. “I know that you must not be liking the decision that I made.”

Skrawl wasn’t sure what to say.

Penny’s smile just broadened at this. “But there’s no need for you to understand, now is there? This will not interfere with you, do not fret.” She raised her finger up slowly. “I just feel that you should be informed of this regardless.”

Skrawl furrowed his eyes at this. He remained silent. How should he reply to this?

Penny just smiled at him. It was like she was silently taunting him, poking fun at his inability to catch on right away. It was enough to make Skrawl’s eyes narrow deeply. He didn’t bother trying to say anything about it, however. What would be the point, anyway? Not like he really needed to understand this, like she said. He just wondered how long it would take for her to just leave him alone.

But it didn’t look like Penny was yet done with him. There was something about the way that she was looking at him that told him there was more to come. There was something else that she wanted to get done and other with and he didn’t have much of a choice other than to…

His thoughts were interrupted when he could hear Penny start chuckling. He narrowed his eyes at her, wondering what she found so damn hilarious. He would have said something if his body didn’t ache with pain in that moment, a reminder of what Rudy had done to him.

“I still can’t believe Rudy managed to do that to you. He’s such a savage, wouldn’t you agree?” Penny asked with a smile. Skrawl just growled at this. Penny moved in closer to him and grabbed onto his cheek to pinch it like a mother would a child. “I’m sure you did all that you could to fend him off, didn’t you?”

Skrawl hissed as he pulled himself away. He rubbed his stinging cheek, wincing as he felt a bit of pain rushing through his body. He turned to glare at the Chalk Queen, but she had already started to walk away from him. Her back was turned to him, her arms folded behind herself. Skrawl blinked at this, but said nothing. He rubbed his cheek a little more to try to rub away the small bit of pain.

Skrawl silently wondered just what Penny was going to do at this point. He still didn’t fully get what she wanted to do regarding this challenge. Even if there was a prize to be had like she claimed, even if she could get what she said that she would, it still seemed like a big risk. How was she going to make sure that everything worked out? How did she knew that Rudy was not going to pull a fast one? He himself wouldn’t care either way, but Penny was still making a big risk here. Was she really…

Penny looked behind her and stared over at Skrawl. The sudden change of her gaze was enough to make the jellybean zoner raise himself up quickly. He felt himself almost being blown back by the way that Penny was looking at him, making his head spin with many thoughts. Just what was on her mind now?

“I do have a plan already in mind, in case you were wondering.” Penny took note of Skrawl’s expression and she sneered at him. “Don’t look at me that way. You know precisely what I’m talking about.” She raised her head up slowly, her arms folding against herself. “Did you really think that I didn’t plan this out further?”

Skrawl raised his finger up and opened his mouth to speak. Then he just stopped himself and lowered his hand back down. Perhaps it would be wiser to not say anything to that, lest he piss the woman in front of him off.

Penny turned her head away from him, looking off into the distance. “I’m going to be working with Craniac to help me make sure that things go my way. I will make Rudy feel like there’s some real competition here, that he has a chance to win. But in the end, it’ll be rigged and he will not be able to escape.” Penny looked down at her hand, flexing her fingers. “I can feel the taste of immortality already in my hands. And the best part..” She lowered her hand and leaned slightly towards Skrawl. There was a glint in her eyes. “Rudy will be the one helping me do it, and he knows it.”

Skrawl gritted his teeth slightly. The way that Penny was speaking, how her voice was grating his ears, he wasn’t really sure what he was going to do. Did Penny want him to agree with her? Did she want him to say something? What was the point in telling him this stuff? Perhaps it was as simple as wanting to taunt him regarding her possible new position of immortal queen. Partially immortal that is, since she could still be killed.

Unless she had something else up her sleeve.

The Chalk Queen continued, “I might end up needing your help as well.”

Skrawl tilted his head to one side. “What for?”

“I’m not sure yet. But I’m certain that I can figure out a place for you here.” The Chalk Queen stated calmly as she tapped her fingers together eagerly. “After all, considering the prize to be had here, I can’t let this chance just slip away from me, now can I….?”

There was nothing that Skrawl could say against this. He knew that she had a good point there. There was good reason for her to want to seek this out and take whatever risks necessary to get what she wanted.

But did he want to help her achieve that?

The Chalk Queen ran her fingers through her hair as she flipped it to one side. “I think I’ve told you enough already. I will come find you if I need you to know more.” She turned around and she started to walk away. “Have a good rest, King Skrawl.”

The jellybean zoner watched her in confusion as she left, his eyes blinking slowly. He continued to stare even as her footstep sounds vanished and the door was shut. He remained quiet for several moments as he struggled to think of what had just happened. A part of him even began to wonder if he had been making all of this up in his head.

Then he could feel a sharp pain in his body. He let out a small cry of pain as he wrapped his arms around himself. He seethed through clenched teeth, breathing in and out swiftly. Then he reopened his eyes as he stared in the direction that the Chalk Queen had walked off to. Many thoughts raced through his mind, and the one that stood out the most was…

...what was going to happen with him if this woman did succeed in becoming a zoner that could use the magic chalk?


	7. Concerns

“Yeowch!” Rudy hissed as he gritted his teeth tightly. “That stings!”

“Just hold still.” His aunt said to him in a firm tone of voice. “It’s not going to get any better until you let me clean this up.”

“I know, but… ouch!”

“I told you to hold still!”

There was little that Rudy could do except try to do what his aunt asked of him. He had to struggle to keep himself still while the woman cleaned up the cut on his hand. He had tried to resist, insisting that he was fine and he didn’t need it looked after. But Aunt Tilly would have none of it. Before he realized what was happening, the woman was already treating his wound.

It didn’t seem so bad at first. She had begun by cleaning up his hand cut with warm water. It almost felt good in a way. It was a nice feeling, having the blood wash away from his hand and he no longer had that sticky feeling there. But this had just been the first part. Things started to get a little more interesting once the woman started to apply cleaning stuff, disinfectant and such. Now that really stung, burning his hand as it killed off any infection. Rudy struggled to hold still, but the woman forced his hand to stay down while she continued to apply it.

Rudy seethed through clenched teeth as he tried to endure the pain as his aunt continued to clean his hand. She said that she was almost done, but it felt like hours had gone by since she had said that. He turned his head away as the woman brought over more spray. He let out a yelp as a sting spread throughout his hand.

“Oh don’t be like that.” Aunt Tilly said as Rudy gave her a small glare. “You know that it was for the best. It was either that, or your hand would get infected. Now would you want that?”

Rudy narrowed his eyes further but eventually he just lowered his head and shook it slowly from side to side. There was no need to respond verbally.

“I didn’t think so.” Aunt Tilly said. She forced herself to sound a little more gentle. “Now, after I’m done with bandaging you up, I would like for you to take this.” She held up her closed hand and then opened it up. Rudy could see a pair of long, white pills laying in her palm. “These will help with the pain.”

Rudy took the pills with his uninjured hand and laid them on the table next to him. He stared at them for a few moments before he looked back at the woman before him. He forced himself to give a small smile. “Thanks, Aunt Tilly.”

“You’re welcome, Rudy.” The woman said before she continued.

Rudy said nothing more as the woman continued to treat his hand. She carefully cleaned it a little bit more before she attempted to use the cloth bandages. She got them out and she begun to wrap it around his hand slowly, keeping pressure on it in certain parts. Rudy turned his head to watch this go on, and he almost became lost in how his aunt was bandaging him up. He soon broke himself free of staring at this, feeling a little embarrassed that he was so willing to distract himself from what happened earlier that he found something like this to be ‘entertaining’.

It did not take long for Aunt Tilly to finish bandaging him up. The warm cloth against his hand did feel good, and despite how much the medicine stung, it did start helping him feel better. The stinginess was giving way to relief and it was enough to make him start smiling a little.

Remembering what his aunt had told him, Rudy took the pills into his hand once more. He brought it towards himself and studied them for a few seconds. He lifted his head up to see his aunt holding out a glass of water towards him. Rudy reached out to grab it. He poured the water and the pills into his mouth and swallowed quickly. He shuddered at the bitter taste but it didn’t take long for the pills to slither down his throat.

Aunt Tilly reached out and gently patted his back a few times, rubbing it. “Why don’t you head upstairs with Sophie? Maybe working on some art crafts can help get your mind off what happened.”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, sure…” The young man got up from his chair. “Thanks again.” He said as he began to head towards the nearby steps.

sss

“So explain again what you want me to do?” Craniac asked.

Penny groaned at this. It was hard to tell if the zoner was being serious or if he was trying to annoy her. It was hard to tell with robots at times. “I want you to create a ring that does what I told you I wanted.”

Craniac just stared at her for a few long moments, looking a little confused. “Come again?”

Penny hissed, slapping herself in the face. Perhaps this hadn’t been the best idea. She forced herself to take in a sharp intake of breath, calming herself doing before she started to speak again. “I just wanted you to create…”

“Yes, yes, I know you mentioned some kind of ring. But you didn’t tell me just what you wanted me to do with it nor why you needed it.” Craniac told her. He pointed his metal hand in her direction. His LED eyes furrowed a little as he continued, “At least give me something to work off of!”

Penny shook her head slowly. “Did you already forget? I explained to you what I wanted. Why are you acting like I didn’t tell you?”

Craniac let out a small groan. It sounded like there were a few sparks flying off of his head, like he was trying to think too hard. He didn’t answer right away. He just put his hands to his glass dome head and started to move around. Penny watched him with her eyebrow raising up, wondering just what he was going to say. When the zoner finally stopped, Craniac replied, “Look, I just don’t see a purpose in this. You can just monitor Rudy using your cameras or have your metal beasts follow him. You didn’t tell me why this was necessary.”

Penny gritted her teeth for a moment. Then she said, “I want him to come back in one piece. And I want him to come back with the spark chalk in hand. If I don’t find a way to discourage attempts to destroy it...”

“And why not just use the metal beasts for that?” Inquired the robotic zoner. “That seems like a much better option than...”

“No, it wouldn’t work. Rudy could still destroy the chalk before any of my minions could stop him.” Penny said as she shook her head slowly. “I need something physically on him to stop him. Or else it’s just going to be too big of a risk.”

Craniac humphed at this. “Sounds like you should have thought this through more.”

The woman hissed at him, but decided not to call him out on it for now. There was little need to drag this on. She gave him her signature creepy smile as she moved in closer to him. The zoner’s fears regarding her were quick to crawl back up to the surface, making it easier to make the zoner remember why he was subordinate to her.

Leaning in forward, her body towering over his, Penny said, “Regardless, I would like for you to create something that I could use.” She reached forward and she gently patted the robot zoner on the top of his head. She chuckled at the way that he shuddered, flinching as though he was going to get hurt. “I’m counting on you to make me something good.”

Craniac looked flabbergasted and unsure of what to do. Penny merely smiled at him before she turned her back to him. She had given him all the instruction that he needed for this. He did not need her further help from this point. After all, he was supposed to be a genius. Surely, he would be able to figure out something that she could use for this.

And with that thought in mind, Penny began to walk away, leaving Craniac alone to do what he had been tasked to do.

sss

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Aunt Tilly asked. She furrowed her eyes as she stared at the piece of paper that Rudy had given her. “This does seem pretty expensive. Do you realize the cost of hotels nowadays?”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah, I understand that it won’t be cheap. But please... I would really like to go to this convention.” Rudy pointed at the piece of paper. “They’re going to showcase a lot of awesome comics!”

Aunt Tilly furrowed her eyes a little. “Well, I do understand how much art means to you... But I’m not sure about these prices. I mean, a hundred dollars for a three day visit? Can’t you just go for a one day? I can’t imagine that there’d be so much to do that you need to be there for that long.”

Rudy shook his head. “No, only a three day would work for me. Please, Aunt Tilly. I rarely get to do anything for fun. I don’t ask this stuff of you that often. Please, just this once...?”

“I still don’t know...” Aunt Tilly said softly. “I will have to figure out how this is going to be funded.”

“Maybe I could go with? That way, we can split the cost.” Sophie suggested. “I might not get that much money, but I’m willing to share what little I have with you for this trip.”

Rudy shook his head. “Sorry, but this is something I would rather do alone.”

“Why?” Sophie narrowed her eyes. “I’m giving you an offer of financial help, and you’re still...”

“I know, but I’m home with you all the time. Can’t I get some privacy?” Rudy asked.

Sophie folded her arms to her chest. “You seem to get a lot of that already.”

Rudy flinched at this. He did realize that Sophie had a good point there. But regardless, he could not allow her to agree to this. It would ruin everything. It would force him to actually commit and it would be much harder to do what needed to be done if she were around. And what if she ended up in ChalkZone and she was found by the Chalk Queen? He shuddered to think of what could happen then.

No, this was something that had to be done on his own. It was just too big of a risk to let Sophie come with him. He would never forgive himself if she got hurt under his watch.

But how would he convince his aunt and cousin to let him go alone? There were some variables that he had to consider first. It was not going to be that easy. It would just take one small bit of poor planning for everything to fall apart. 

“Please... I just really want to go...”

Rudy opened his mouth to speak, but as he stared into Sophie’s eyes, he found that he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Not just yet, anyway. He could still feel that lump rolling around in his mouth, making it feel dry, like he was starting to feel sick. He swallowed hard, feeling a bitterness in his throat, and he started to move back a little slowly. He could feel his insides starting to burn brightly, hotly, his body shaking. It felt like at any moment, he was going to burst into emotion and run off.

Yet somehow he managed to keep himself standing right here, watching the teenager in front of her, feeling his aunt’s stare pouring into him as well as his cousin’s. He struggled to think of what he was going to say, how he could help Sophie understand. He wished that she would listen and accept his wishes. But at the same time, he wished that he could help her not feel so sad. She really did look like she was about to lose him again.

The thought of that caused him to freeze him and he could feel his eyes going big and wide. He drew in a few shaky breaths before he managed to control himself. He looked back at Sophie, his eyes locking with hers. Unable to think of anything else, he moved himself forward and reached out to touch her shoulder. He could feel her jerking a little, but managed to hold herself still. Sophie looked at him, and he could see how much her eyes were pleading with him to let her go.

And that made it all the more painful for him to say what he did next.

“I’m sorry, Soph... But I really do want to go alone. It’s...It’s not you, it’s just...” Rudy couldn’t think of exactly how to say this. His gut twisted up inside of him and he could feel a few tears forming in his eyes. “What I’m trying to say is...” He reached out to gently caress her cheek. “I do love you, Sophie. And I hope that you love me enough to trust me to go on my own. Nothing will happen. I promise.”

He had hoped that Sophie would at least try to understand. He had hoped that his words would have comforted her enough that she felt able to just let him go. He was doing all that he could to help her relax, all that he could to show her that it was going to be okay.

But it would seem that it was not enough. He could see how Sophie started to glare at him. He could sense her body tensing up. He could hear her hiss as she backed away, swatting back his head.

“J-Just go then! Leave us alone like you always do! S-S-See if I care!” Sophie screeched at him as tears moved down her face.

Rudy felt his eyes widen in horror at this and he bit his lip firmly. “S-Sophie...” He whispered softly. He reached his hand out towards her, his fingers spreading outward. “I-I didn’t mean....”

“Shut up!” Sophie cried out before she turned and started to run off.

“Sophie!” Rudy attempted to rush at her. His right leg started to act up, a wave of pain shooting through his limb. He yelped painfully and dropped onto his knee. He clutched his sore leg for a few seconds before he lifted his head and stared out at where Sophie at gone off to. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything and he just lowered his head, feeling a sense of shame washing over him.

There was nothing more that could be said. The room that he was in became devoid of life, empty of anything. He tried to make his stomach ache go away by rubbing it, but that did not seem to be working. It was like he was being poisoned and he was going to throw up at any given moment. His pounding heart only accentuated the feeling.

Rudy wasn’t sure what he was going to do at that point. He could almost feel his aunt’s glare tearing into the back of his head. He was fearful to turn around and face her. He could already hear what she was going to say. There was no need to make a guess. He couldn’t bring himself to move or do anything. He couldn’t face his aunt and he couldn’t face his cousin. It was like the only option was to leave. But he was positioned in a way that he had to go towards one of his family members.

Which was he going to do?

Rudy slowly forced himself to stand up onto his feet. His gaze hadn’t strayed far from where his cousin had run off to. He slowly put his hand to his chest and began to clutch at it. He lowered his head and he felt his gaze shifting to one side.

And that was when his aunt started to speak.

“I sure hope you’re happy.” Aunt Tilly hissed lowly.

Rudy turned to look at his aunt. She was...not furious but disappointed. Even so, just looking at her with that expression was enough to make him flinch and cringe back a little. “Aunt Tilly...” He managed to choke out.

Aunt Tilly folded her arms against her chest. “I will grant you permission to go to this...convention on your own. But I do hope that you have a good reason to want to go it alone. There’s absolutely no reason why your cousin can’t go with you, or why we both can’t go with you.” She forced out a soft sigh. “But regardless, you have my permission to go it alone...Rudolph.”

Rudy cringed when his aunt used his full name like that. He could just feel her bitter emotions flowing from her voice. He forced himself to nod his head towards her. “Th-Thank you... A-Aunt Tilly.”

Aunt Tilly just gave a small huff before she turned to walk away. Rudy thought about trying to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t like there was anything that he could say to make this better, anyway. He realized just how much he had goofed up and he was jut going to have to accept it.

He could only hope that, in time, he would find a way to help his family feel better. He hadn’t meant to hurt them like this. It was just...too big a risk to let either of them come. It was for their own good. It was just a shame that he probably would not find the right words to say to help them see just what...

Rudy pushed those thoughts aside for not. Numbly, he went towards his room to get ready to pack. Not like there was anything else that he could do and he did need to make this look convincing, right?

But when he got to his bedroom, he froze and remembered that he and Sophie share a room now. That meant that....

“I said go away...” Came Sophie’s muffled voice.

Rudy licked his lips slowly. He still pushed the door open anyways, despite the uncomfortable feeling that he was getting in the pit of his stomach. He could see that Sophie was laying on her bed face first, not bothering to look up at him.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said go away.” Sophie said again.

“It’s my room, too, Soph.” Rudy replied. “I have as much of a right to be in here as you.”

Sophie raised her head up, her eyes glaring right into him, causing him to cringe back. “Why are you in here anyway? You don’t even trust me! Or my mom!”

Rudy could feel his heart stinging at this statement. He was starting to see just how far he was going with this. It made it all the more painful for him to keep this up. He wished that there was a way to help Sophie see that he was doing this because he loved her. But it seemed like, at this point, there really was nothing more that he could say. The damage appeared to be already done.

Sophie just put her face back into her pillow to keep crying. Rudy moved in closer behind her, reaching his hand out towards her. But he soon thought better of it and he pulled his hand back. Forcing out another sigh, he shifted his body around as he headed towards his closet and began to pull out the clothes that he required. The room filled up with an awkward silence as he did this.

sss

Where was he? What was going on? What was going to happen? So many thoughts raced through his head as he looked around in desperation. But nothing here seemed to look familiar to him. It was like he was lost in a maze and there was no end point.

But this wasn’t just some maze. It was pitch black. He thought that he was blind for a few moments, but he couldn’t be sure. Maybe there was just no light. Maybe if he could just find a light switch...

Rudy could feel something washing over his body, feeling him up with a sense of sickness. He grabbed onto his stomach and tried his best to fight against it as he looked left and right in desperation. He tried to see if there was anything else going on here. Anything that could help him understand. Instead, he was just greeted with endless arrays of darkness. It seemed to go on forever.

He soon could see some kind of silvery set of arrays moving down, flashing a few times, making it appear as though he was in some kind of big tunnel. He didn’t know what else he could do, so he fought against his growing fear as he headed down the supposed tunnel. Where was this going to take him?

Rudy continued to head down, and he only stopped when he thought he could hear something swishing behind him. He stopped and he looked over his shoulder. He let his body grow tense, feeling a shroud of something moving over him, beginning to twist around him and holding him in a tight embrace. He forced a cold shudder to exit his body as he forced himself to move in. It was nothing, he told himself. Probably just the wind.

But there wasn’t any wind....

Rudy barely had any chance to respond before he could feel something hitting up against him. He let out a cry of pain as he was forced into the ground, his body hitting against the floor and practically echoing. His cries reverberated off the walls, if they truly existed, and he just laid there for several long moments. It took him a while before he got himself to look up to see what was happening, who had struck him.

And he immediately froze in horror when he saw who it was.

“P-P-Penny...?!” Rudy screeched, his voice becoming lodged in his throat.

Penny stared down at him with a contorted face, her eyes glowing a bright white coloration. Her teeth looked increasingly pointed and twisted, and he thought that she somehow had a forked tongue. She looked absolutely monstrous as she held onto him and kept him pinned down.

“I’ve got you now, Rudy... You’re going back to how things used to be... You’re going to be my little prisoner just like before. And this time...” Penny’s eyes seemed to grow big and large, overtaking Rudy’s eyesight. “I’m never letting you go!”

“No! Wait! Please!” Rudy pleaded with her. He started to twist himself wildly on the ground, but there was nothing that he could do to escape. He could hear Penny’s laughter echoing in his head. He could feel darkness encasing his body, wrapping him up tightly. Soon, he released a scream.

sss

“Aaaaahhh! No stop! Please let me go! P-Penny! Stop this! Aaaahhh!”

“Rudy! I’m not Penny! It’s me, Sophie!”

“S-Sophie…?”

“Yes. Please...open your eyes…”

Rudy did as he was asked. He forced his eyes open, which allowed him to escape from the darkness that had clouded around him. He took in a few heavy breaths as he looked left and right, taking note of where he was. He could feel his dry throat become itchy as he licked his lips. He darted his eyes around and he swallowed hard. It took him a few seconds to realize that what he had experienced was just a dream.

Nothing more than a horrible, dreadful nightmare. He took in a few trembling, shaky breaths as he realized this. He exhaled slowly and gave a soft whimper. He felt a wave of relief hitting him…

..but it didn’t seem like it was enough. His eyes were already watering and he could feel heavy emotions pushing down against him. He curled his lip downward a little as he started to resume crying. He couldn’t help it. With what had happened...and how he could still see Penny’s face even with his eyes open like this, he just…

Rudy couldn’t control what he did next. He couldn’t stop himself from launching forward and grabbing onto his cousin, holding her tightly. The girl stiffened up at this, shocked by this action. But he soon moved her hands around him and held him in a hug. She stroked his hair and along his back and whispered soft, gentle words to him. Rudy could hardly make out what most of them were as his crying distorted his hearing.

Rudy wasn’t sure how long he stayed like this. He couldn’t tell what was going on Sophie’s mind or what she was feeling regarding this. He could feel his head aching and turning about as it tried to cope with his many racing thoughts. The fear and horror that he felt in the dream still leaked out into the real world and there was little that he could do to stop it. He just continued to release a series of small whimpers and cries, uncaring at the moment what people would think of him if they saw him. They already thought it was weird that he was ‘dead’ and he came back. So what if this could cause more word to be spread about him if word leaked out? Right now, he just...wanted comfort.

And comfort is exactly what Sophie was providing him. She kept him close to her, nudging her head against his. She stayed like this with him no matter how long that he cried. Her words were always gentle. She never attempted to make him stop crying or tell him anything. She seemed like she was trying to be as understanding as possible. And in this particular moment, that’s exactly what Rudy needed.

It seemed to take forever before Rudy felt comfortable enough to pull himself away from Sophie and end his crying session. His back remained arched and bending forward. His gaze was kept downward towards the ground. He breathed in shakingly a few times. He struggled to catch his breath, wiping his face as he felt it becoming wet with saliva and mucus. He sniffled loudly before he turned to face Sophie. He forced himself to smile.

In a trembling, soft voice, he said, “Th-Thanks. I… guess I…” He lowered his head and rubbed his hair slowly. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”

“You were really moving about.” Sophie said. “I thought you were going to hurt yourself.”

Rudy flinched at this. “It was...that bad?” At Sophie’s nod, he gritted his teeth as he shut his eyes tightly. “Oh Soph, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you like that. I…”

“You were having a nightmare about...her, weren’t you?”

Rudy froze at this question. He stammered as he tried to think of an answer to that question. He soon swallowed hard and he tried to play it off, smiling nervously. “I..I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Rudy, I heard you shout her name.” Sophie said, with her eyes furrowing. “I heard you scream out for Penny.” She nearly spat that name out with venom, causing Rudy to flinch. “Please don’t lie to me. I know what I heard. And so do you.”

Rudy knew that the teenager was right. It hadn’t been the smartest move of him to act like he didn’t know that she knew what he was going through. That was how he had woken up, after all. Screaming Penny’s name, scaring his cousin… Rudy put his hand to his head and rubbed it firmly as he struggled to think of what to say.

But Sophie already thought of something to say to him. “Is this why you don’t want me to come with you…?”

Rudy turned his head to look at her with widened eyes.

Sophie’s voice remained low and soft. “Are you afraid that Penny is going to somehow...take me away from you? Are you worried about what she might try to do? Is this why you are trying so hard to keep me from going with you…?”

Rudy wasn’t sure what to say to this. He wasn’t sure just how Sophie managed to so easily deduce what he was fearing this whole time. He wanted to say something to her, any sort of response. But his voice was locked up in his throat and there was little that he could do to get it back. All that he was able to do was just turn his head away and not even respond. His jaws pressed shut tightly, nearly biting his tongue, as he kept his gaze from her.

Sophie said, “That is what it is, isn’t it…? You just don’t want me to get hurt.”

Rudy opened his mouth to speak. But he wasn’t able to think of a response. Instead, he just nodded.

Sophie stared at Rudy for several long seconds, her eyes seeming to tear into him, freezing him in place and making it impossible for him to leave. He tried to smile or do something to help her feel better about this. But what could he say? What could he do to help her not worry about him too much? In the end, after what he had been doing, there was likely nothing that was going to work. He felt his gaze lowering at this realization.

He could see that Sophie was getting closer to him. He adjusted himself and tried to get back from her. But she wouldn’t let him get away that easily. She increased her movement’s speed, and soon she was latching onto Rudy once more. Rudy couldn’t bring himself to push her away. Instead, he let her wrap her arms around him and press the side of her head against him. He stayed like this for several moments before his body relaxed and he returned her hug.

“Oh Rudy, you could have just told us. We would have understood. We do care about you and we know that you have...complicated feelings towards Penny.” Sophie’s voice was shaky and trembly. It sounded like she was having trouble continuing to speak like this. Yet she still managed to push herself forward. “W-We won’t let her hurt you…”

Rudy could feel his eyes starting to water up a little. He tried to think of what he was going to say in response to this. But what could he say? Nothing that he could come up with would summarize how he was feeling. He could feel his body trembling, struggling to get some warmth from the girl that he was holding onto. He pushed his head on top of hers as he let himself start to cry softly, just like he had been before.

He realized that she was right. He should have been able to trust them a little more. They might not know the full story behind Penny, but they know that she was not to be trusted and they must realize how scared he was of her. Of course they would have been able to make the connection and realize that he just didn’t want either of them to get hurt. He didn’t know why he couldn’t have tried to trust them a little more.

Rudy gritted his teeth tightly as tears flowed from his eyes faster. He immediately pushed himself forward and leaned further against Sophie. He could feel himself squeezing her more firmly than before and he thought he could hear her gasping for air. This caused Rudy to loosen his grip on her and stare at her worriedly.

“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…” Rudy said.

“It’s quite alright.” Sophie said as she smiled at Rudy. “Come on, we should head back to bed now. It’s two in the morning.”

Rudy felt himself blushing a little. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Without another word, Rudy and Sophie returned to their beds and settled down underneath the blankets. They whispered ‘goodnight’ to each other as they curled up in their warm beds and attempted to return to sleep.

For Rudy, it was going to be a struggle. His mind continued to swirl with many thoughts. After several long moments, however, he was finally able to drift off into sleep. And this time, it was free of any twisted nightmares that may have tried to come his way.


	8. Prey And Predator

Penny made her way towards the trembling robot zoner, her arms folded to her chest. She stared at him intently, not allowing him to wriggle away from her gaze nor would she let him try to run off. Not this time. He was going to tell her what she wanted. She had given him enough time for this.

“Are they ready now?” Penny asked in a cooled voice. “It’s been a few days now. I’m sure Rudy’s wondering when we’re going to start. I told him I was waiting on you. So what’s it going to be?” Penny cocked her head to one side. “Are you going to tell me what I want to hear?”

Craniac looked like he was having trouble thinking of a response to this. He fumbled with his metal hands, his eyes shifting about. “I...I think I did…” He finally said after several long moments. His tone of voice did not sound very promising, however. This caused Penny to narrow her eyes further and she waited for the robot zoner to explain himself. “I mean, they have not yet been tested.”

“And I gave you time for that.” Penny said.

Craniac raised his arms over his head to shield himself. “Y-Y-Yes I know! P-Please don’t hurt me…!”

Penny let out a small sigh. “I never said I was going to hurt you. I just want you to hand over those devices. So long as they function the way that I told you to have them act, then that is fine.” Penny moved in closer. She reached her hand out forward and she opened her hand up expectantly. “Give them here.”

Craniac still hesitated. Despite her orders, he still held himself back. He looked very unsure of himself, as though he really didn’t think that he had done a good job. That was something for Penny herself to decide, however. And when she saw that he still wasn’t doing what she asked, she just growled softly before reaching out and grabbing onto his arm and yanked him forward. She could hear him release a small cry of fear at this.

“Wait! Please!” Craniac shouted.

Penny just let out a small snarl and said, “Just hand over the rings!” Penny lifted him up from the ground slightly and pulled him close to her. She bared her teeth at him as her intense eyes glared into his soul. “Or am I going to have to yank them painfully from you?”

Craniac shook his head.

“Then hand them over.” Penny stated. She tightened her grip on the robot’s arm and twisted it painfully. She could hear him letting out a cry of agony. His LED eyes, despite being robotic, were able to convey the horror that he was feeling. Penny, however, could care less. “You want the pain to stop? Hand them over. Now.”

Craniac eventually couldn’t stall for much longer. He reached around himself and he pulled something out of his side compartment. He brought it up towards Penny and allowed her to take it. It was only after she got the item in question that she just dropped the zoner into the ground.

“Thank you. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Penny asked the zoner. She didn’t bother looking at him. She just focused on the items that she now held in her hand. “This will be perfect.” She said calmly. “At least, so long as you followed my instructions…?”

Craniac moved himself back from her. He was still trembling a little, but he did look as if he was trying to put on some kind of brave front, even if he wasn’t being all that smart about it. “Y-Yes, your highness! Th-They should work perfectly! O-O-One for you and one for….”

“...Rudy…” Penny finished for him.

“Yes.” Craniac. “Rudy.”

Penny studied the two rings carefully. She had to be sure that she gave Rudy the correct one. She had told Craniac to make sure that he had included a measure in the design that would allow her to tell the rings apart. This was imperative. If she gave Rudy the wrong one, well she might as well kiss her plan goodbye.

Ah, there it was. It took her longer than she had hoped that it would. But she did soon see something small inscribed in the rings themselves. The markings were tiny, but a close-up enough view revealed what they were. Tiny letters that represented who the owner of the ring should be. An ‘R’ for Rudy and a ‘P’ for Penny. It was a pretty simple and crude means of identification. But it was still good enough and worked well enough for her.

Turning her head to face Craniac, she gave him a smile. “Congratulations. You’ve given me just what I wanted.”

Craniac looked like he was trying to smile. Kind of hard to tell with that robotic mouth of his. “That’s good!” Craniac stumbled back a little further. He moved his hands about himself, as though trying to rub away his nervousness. “S-So I can go now?”

Penny’s smile just broadened further when he said this. “What makes you think that I’m done with you yet?”

“B-B-But I…” Craniac started to say.

“Do not forget, Craniac… I also wanted you to help me build some things. You are a swift builder, right? I’m sure you can create some very...interesting obstacles for Rudy.” Penny tapped her fingers against each other. “I can’t just let him go fetch the spark chalk and bring it back without some kind of challenge. Where would the fun be without challenges?”

Craniac said, “I thought you wanted him back alive. If I build traps for him…”

Penny waved her hand dismissively. “I sure hope you haven’t forgotten how Rudy can be. I’m not worried about him not making it back.” She stared at the robot zoner with a sideways glance. “And aside from that, I never said that I wanted the traps to be lethal or even that damaging. Just small annoyances to see how he reacts.”

“This is for your own entertainment, isn’t it?” Craniac asked, his tone somewhat cautious.

Penny gave a small ‘hmph’ sound and said, “Perhaps you are right.”

Craniac looked flabbergasted by this. Penny thought she was able to see some sparks flying out of him and the sight of it caused her to chuckle softly. Of course this robotic zoner, despite being a ‘genius’ in some ways, still had some other things that he couldn’t understand. It was pretty amusing to watch. She was half tempted to say something else to confuse him, just to see if he was going to flip his lid trying to understand what was going on.

But she felt that she had enough fun with him for now. There was no need for her to carry on with him further. So she turned around and gave him a dismissive wave, signaling that he could leave. She practically heard him shouting in glee and happiness at this as he just zoomed off into the distance. Penny just shrugged at this, placing the two rings in her pocket before she headed into the nearest exit.

There was still something else that she needed to do before she could meet up with Rudy for the start of the challenge. Well more than just one thing. She had a few things she needed to plan, but first, she wanted to speak with Skrawl. The last that she had heard, he was healing pretty quickly. This made her happy as it meant that she might be able to use him in helping her with this spark chalk situation. Craniac already had his assignment. Skrawl was going to receive his whether or not he wanted to do it.

Penny made her way rapidly down the corridors, across the landscape, entering another building, all within what felt like a short time frame. She hardly paid much attention to the time passing, nor did she care about the occasional stray zoner she saw that ran away from the sight of her, or looked like they had something to say. All of that meant nothing to her. The only thing that mattered was getting everything ready so that in the end….

She would win.

Soon she entered the room that she wanted to. Skrawl’s chamber, where she could already see the zoner laying down on his bed, the blanket still pulled over him. Penny frowned at this and shook her head slowly.

“Hello Skrawl.” Penny spoke up, wondering if the zoner could hear her. She didn’t get a response just yet. She furrowed her eyes and moved in a little closer. “Hey Skrawl, are you there?”

Still no response. Penny could feel her eyes narrowing a little further. She folded her arms to her chest and gave a small snort. She could tell that he was awake. He might be trying to be subtle about it. But she could see how he was shuffling himself about there, trying to turn himself away. He was acting like he could not hear her. Well, he was not going to fool her.

Penny brought out her magic chalk and quickly drew a small trumpet. She turned to Skrawl and sneered at him before putting her lips close to the tip of the trumpet. She then placed the broader end, where the sound would come out, next to his face. She inhaled deeply and she started to blow as loudly as she could.

“Aaaah!” Skrawl immediately jumped up. He came crashing back down and yelped in pain when he hit his arm in an awkward manner. He seethed through clenched teeth as he held onto his arm. He stared at it for a few moments before turning to glare at Penny. “Don’t do that!”

Penny just smirked at him. “And next time, don’t try to act like I can’t tell what you’re doing. Don’t ignore me.”

Skrawl just seethed through clenched teeth, looking like he was ready to strike her. But he soon thought better of it and pulled himself back. He sat himself up in his bed and rubbed the top of his head. As he picked out what looked to be a small pebble from his purple hair and flicked it off, he said, “So what does your highness want with me?”

“I’m going to require your assistance regarding Rudy Tabootie.” Penny said.

“Hmm?” Skrawl stared at her in confusion. “Why ever for? I thought you had all of that figured out.”

Penny folded her arms to her chest. “Why are you questioning me? I thought you claimed you were flawless and could do whatever is tossed your way.” Her tone was teasing, and it was having the right effect on the jellybean zoner. She could see the way that his mismatched eyes were glinting. “Or are you going to confess to me that you are really not all that great? That you aren’t some kind of a genius?”

Skrawl’s teeth started to grind against one another. “You...” He started to push himself forward, getting up quickly. He raised his hand up and said, “I’ll show you, I... Aaah!” Skrawl clutched his arm to himself. “Geezus fuck....!”

“Take it easy. You don’t want to overwork yourself.” Penny said playfully. She ignored the swift glare that she got from Skrawl for that. She pressed on, “Anyway, I just felt that you would want to be a part of this. To get back at Rudy for what he’s done to you.” She let her smile spread further. “Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Worth your while?”

Skrawl let out a low hum at this, as though trying to think of what he should do. The fact that he was staying silent for this long didn’t bother her. She would let him have all the time in the world to figure out something to reply with. She just stood there with her arms folded, smiling at him with a small smirk.

Then Skrawl just jerked his head to the side, staring off in one direction. His lips were curling up a little, showing his yellow, crooked teeth. She opened his mouth slowly and he hissed softly, “I’ll do whatever it takes to make that boy pay for what he did to me...”

Penny’s eyes glinted at this. “Excellent!” She brought her hands together, rubbing them against one another. “Then I think you were going to like this idea of mine. There is only one catch.”

Skrawl turned to stare at her. “Hmm?”

“You can’t kill him.” Said Penny.

Skrawl looked slightly disappointed, but perhaps she was just looking at the situation wrong. He then shrugged his shoulders a little, speaking softly, “Eh, that would have taken away the fun of it, anyway.”

“Of course.” Penny was about to motion to Skrawl to come with her. But though the jellybean zoner had made some good progress the past few days, she soon realized that it would be best if she were to stay here instead. At least this way, she would not hear the zoner’s pitiful cries of pain. “Would you like to hear what I have in mind?”

Skrawl let out a low, hissing growl. It was clear that he was still debating on this. But after a few moments, he nodded his head and said, “Okay, let’s hear it. What do you want me to do?”

Penny grinned at this. She looked around for a bit to find a place to sit down. Then she looked back at Skrawl and gave a broader smile. Skrawl seemed to realize what she was going to do. But before he could say anything against the idea, she just headed on over and positioned herself next to him. She leaned up against him like he was her cuddle buddy. Skrawl grimaced at this and Penny enjoyed his response.

“Oh don’t pretend that you don’t like this.” Penny teased him.

“Yuch...” Skrawl said. He would have struck her away if she were not the queen. “J-Just...tell me and then just go...”

Penny furrowed her eyes slightly at him, as if to silently tell him ‘you don’t tell me what to do’. But she didn’t bother with scolding him. She had something else in mind instead. She moved herself away from him a little and cleared her throat. She gathered her thoughts for a moment before she started to speak again.

“Now, do you remember what I told you before? Regarding the plan?”

Skrawl was silent for a few moments. He tapped his claw against his chin a little, tilting his head slightly as he thought for a little while. Penny realized that he was doing this just to annoy her, taking his time like this. But she made no response to this obvious attempt at making her upset. Skrawl appeared to realize this and he let out a low ‘hmph’ sound. “I suppose so.”

Penny nodded her head slowly. “I had a feeling you would. Now...” Penny slowly turned her head to stare into nothingness. She let her eyes narrow further. “I already arranged things with Craniac, but I do feel I could use more help. You two always seem to work well enough together.”

She did not attempt to bring up the time that Skrawl and Craniac tried to overthrow her two years ago. She did not really need to mention it. She could tell, from the look in Skrawl’s eyes, exactly what she was referring to.

Penny continued, “I do feel like your brand of genius could be useful here as well. That is, if you feel like you’re up to the challenge.”

Skrawl hissed, “Of course I am. Why would I not be?”

Penny just smiled at this. “I had a feeling that you would be.” She straightened herself out, her head cocking to one side. “And I’m sure you would be up for some run with Rudy, right? Toying with him to make him cry? Make him plead?”

Skrawl seemed to jerk a little at this, as though something was tingling inside of him. He was frozen for a few seconds. The look in his eyes suggested that he was remembering what Rudy had done to him. His body appeared to quake at the memory. Despite how he acted, Penny could tell that he was a little scarred from what happened. Neither of them could have ever thought that Rudy would be capable of doing something like this.

Penny continued, “I don’t care what you do with Rudy or how you want to go about this. Just as long as you make his journey a little rough around the edges. Just make sure that he can still get back here. I will take care of him afterwards.”

Skrawl turned to stare at her. “What if I want to finish him off myself?”

“Oh Skrawl, you know that’s not an option.” Penny chuckled softly, her lips spreading a little further on her face, twistedly. “Rudy is my prey ultimately. I get to dispatch him when we’re all done playing with him.”

Skrawl hummed lowly to himself, a growl escaping his mouth. But he soon lowered his head slightly and nodded it. “Okay then. You are the queen and if that is your word, then so be it.” He then pulled his head back and raised an eyebrow up. “So, what can I do with the little chalk boy?”

Penny chuckled darkly. “So long as it’s not fatal and it won’t hinder him being able to come back here, you can do whatever you want...”

Skrawl blinked at this before smiling twistedly in return.

sss

So this was it. The day had finally come. There was no going back no. He was not going to delay this anymore than it has to be. He wanted to get this done and over with. Despite how he was feeling right now, despite how anxious he was about all of this, in the end, this was for the better. It at least offered him a chance to stop Penny for good.

But Rudy still felt nervous about the whole thing. He didn’t know what to expect. He didn’t know what tricks Penny was going to pull. He did not trust her word that she would not bother him during his journey. That seemed suspicious. No doubt she would try to do something with him on his way. But he would believe her that she wanted him to come back. If this spark chalk did what she claimed that it did...

Rudy bit his lip firmly. He realized that she could not be allowed to have that item. He could not let this woman turn into a zoner that could use the chalk. He couldn’t allow ChalkZone to be stuck with a monster like her for the rest of eternity. He would much rather see this world destroyed than let it endure that fate.

He felt a small pang in his stomach at this thought. He rubbed his stomach slowly, growling softly. He didn’t want to wish that kind of fate upon this world, nor would he ever try something like that. This world, it deserved something far better than either of those options. He didn’t know if he could deliver on that, but he had to at least try, right?

Rudy could soon hear his cousin’s voice echoing in his head, and buzzing with that, what his aunt had told him. He could feel his emotions crowding around him at this, almost choking him in a hold. He put his hand to his throat and rubbed it. He realized that he could not allow this to control him. They did accept his choice, after all. He just...

His aunt and cousin were more understanding when he had informed them of his fear, that he was worried about losing them. They didn’t understand why he did not inform them of this fact sooner, but they did see why he felt that way. They were both aware of how he felt about Penny.

But letting him go was not something they were both willing to do so easily. The prospect of losing him terrified them as well. They were fearful of what might happen to him if Penny were to find him. To them, Penny was a murderer who had slipped away from sight and into hiding. They admitted that, every day, they worried that she would return to finish the job.

That she would...

Rudy gave a small shudder as he tried to push the thought aside for now. He tried to collect his thoughts and keep himself as calm as reserved as possible. Penny was going to be able to detect weakness in him and he couldn’t let that happen. He could not allow her to get a chance to rise up and.... He gritted his teeth tightly as he forced himself along.

He was going to have to do this alone. Terry was going to be held hostage by Penny so that he would have no help. He didn’t know how Terry was going to be treated. He hoped that she was going to be all right. Penny did promise no harm to her. But he wasn’t sure how much of that he could believe.

The boy still didn’t know if this was the right path or not. There were some issues with it that caused him to nearly freeze. He kept thinking about what was going to happen if he failed to stop her, how Penny could rule ChalkZone forever. She would be unstoppable. No one could stand in her way. And he would be the reason for that. Did he really want that kind of blame placed upon him?

“Then why do it, Bucko....?” A familiar voice called out. “Why not just go up to her and kill her before she could do that...?”

Rudy couldn’t fully push aside this thought as it lingered in his head. That imposter still trying to cause trouble... Although this time around, he did have a good point. It was true that he did have the option to end it quickly and not go through this sort of risk.

And yet...

He wasn’t entirely sure what still drove him to keep his end of the bargain and still go with this deal. But he just didn’t feel right about just straight up killing Penny when they were both bound by this deal that they made. The mark on his hand proved it. While he imagined Penny could dishonor this when it convenienced her, he didn’t want to stoop down to her level. He was going to show her that he was above her.

“You’re a fool.” The voice snarled.

Rudy narrowed his eyes to no one in particular. While that statement might be true, he was comforted knowing that he was at least trying to keep his conscience clear. He was not going to let himself get dragged down into the pits of hell like Penny already had. He would not become like her.

Rudy stopped when he saw that he had reached the meeting area. He looked around the grassy hills, a row of trees circling around, close and tight, making escape difficult. He could see why Penny changed the location to this. If she decided to take him out right here and right now, it would not be difficult. Rudy would need to exercise caution before he entered this kind of place.

After collecting his resolve, Rudy forced himself into the ring of trees. He looked around cautiously as he tried to take note of anyone else being here. He didn’t see anyone or anything and it did feel unusually quiet in here. He gritted his teeth tightly as he struggled not to look too nervous. Then when he looked down and forward, he suddenly realized something odd about this ring of trees.

Why was it shaped like a heart?

Rudy’s thoughts were cut off when he heard the treets behind him close, creating a sharp point. Rudy’s heart skipped several beats as he rushed back. His right leg acted up and he found himself limping. Despite that, he reached the tree closure point and tried to pry it open. But it it didn’t matter what he tried. Nothing appeared to be working. He took in a few heavy breaths as his mind spun at this realization.

Then he could hear footsteps off to his side. He turned himself around and tensed up as he glared at Penny coming towards him. He could see how she was standing there, smirking twistedly as he remained put here. He wondered how long she was waiting and just where the heck she was hiding. What was she trying to do, anyway? Give him a heart attack? Certainly seemed like something that she’d do.

“Hello there, Rudy. I was wondering when you would show up.” Penny said as she made her way closer. “My, you look a little sweaty right now. Are you nervous, my dear boy?”

Rudy flinched at this statement as he moved back. He thought he could feel his hair rising up on end. He opened his mouth to speak. But he found himself frozen as he stared at her. Looking into her eyes, he could feel flashbacks, memories shooting through his head. He was reminded of what happened in the past, and he could feel his heart struggling to keep beating.

Penny took notice of this and she gave him a mock look of concern. “What’s the amtter? Did I scare you?” She took a few steps closer. Rudy could feel himself struggling to back away from her, his teeth clenching even tighter. “Maybe I should try to make you more comfortable? Perhaps with something that you remember?”

Rudy shook his head. “N-No... I’m good.”

Penny’s smile stretched a little further. Her teeth became exposed in a scary-looking grin. “I don’t believe you. Here, let me give you something that should help you.” She reached out and cupped Rudy’s chin. “Keep still. I promise this will not hurt.”

Rudy immediately realized what was about to happen. He tried to pull himself away before it occurred, but he was too late. He could feel Penny’s lips pressing up against his in a kiss. She held onto him firmly so that he couldn’t easily get away. The kiss lasted for several moments before Rudy could get himself away. Rudy backed off, staring with shock.

Wiping his mouth quickly, Rudy cried out, “What the hell was that for?!” He took in a few heavy breaths as he stared at Penny, a part of him wondering if she had lost her mind or something. He wasn’t sure if he wanted the answer to that.

Penny just chuckled, acting as if nothing had really happened. She merely shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “I don’t know why you’re complaining. Not like I hurt you or anything.”

“But there wasn’t a reason to do that.” Rudy protested.

Penny smirked at this. “Do I need a reason to mess with you, Rudy?”

Rudy couldn’t think of a response to that.

Penny brought her hands together to tap her fingers against one another. She kept her smile stretching outward, sneering in his direction. Rudy could feel himself shuddering at the way that she was looking at him. “Now why don’t you come with me? I’m sure you want to get this over with quickly just as much as I do.”

Rudy furrowed his eyes, and soon nodded his head. That was an understatement, he said to himself. He said nothing as he started to follow the woman closely behind. He still watched her cautiously, just in case she wanted to pull something fast on him. So far, nothing really seemed to be happening, but that didn’t mean that Penny would not try something. She was not someone that he could fully trust nowadays. She might have a trap waiting for him just around the corner.

Penny kept herself straightened up, giving an air of duty about herself, as she led Rudy back towards the middle of the encircled area. Rudy wasn’t sure why at first, until he saw that there was a small button hidden there. He saw Penny moving her finger over to press it. Rudy immediately felt his heart sinking in his stomach as he wondered if this was the trap that he feared would be here.

But when Penny pressed it, something different happened. Rather than a trap being sprung like he had expected, instead, he was greeted by the sound of the ground rumbling there, and a small hatch opening up. A platform rose up, a thing tall pillar connected to it, like a street lamp almost. On top of it laid some kind of paper and a small circular item. Penny reached over to grab both of them. Rudy was not sure what the point of all of that was. Perhaps just to scare him or be overly dramatic? If that were the case, she did succeed.

Penny held the items in the crook of her arm as she headed towards Rudy. She held them out to him, presenting them like they were something sacred. Rudy hesitated to grab them. Were they going to shock him if he tried? But when he saw Penny’s frown, he felt compelled to take them quickly. He was a little surprised by how cold they were. How long were they sitting out here?

Penny folded her arms to her chest as watched Rudy examine the items. She didn’t stay quiet for too long. Making a few quick motions with her hand, she said, “The paper is a map and instructions on how to get to your destination. The journey is pretty far, and you will not be given much magic chalk to work with. I’d highly recommend that you ration it and only use it when you need it.”

Of course Penny would limit his ability to use the chalk. Rudy couldn’t bring himself to even act surprised at this.

Penny continued, “You also will need to wear that ring.” She pointed at the small gold item that Rudy moved around in his hand. “It will help provide some protection. You will find that you will get to your destination more easily when you are not hounded by the wild zoners that live in these areas.”

Rudy felt himself swallow bitterly when Penny said this. His mind immediately began to fill with images of monstrous zoners that matched some of the locations that he was seeing here. Swamp Deluge? Rake Forest? Wanderer’s Last Stand? All of these sounded like terrifying places. Regardless of how he felt about Penny, even he would be cautious of about going to these places, with or without Penny’s words.

Rudy examined the ring carefully. He moved it around slowly, watching how it shined on his finger, his mind moving about slowly as he wondered what to do about this thing. He looked back at Penny, seeing her watching him expectantly. Then he looked back at the ring. Seeing that there wasn’t much other option, he slid it onto his finger. It fit surprisingly snugly.

“I also have a ring of my own.” Penny said, her voice somewhat reassuring. “If I see that you need help, I’ll come find you.” Penny held up her hand, showing what looked to be an exact copy of the ring. She then lowered her hand and gave a crooked smile to Rudy. “But of course, you’re Rudy Tabootie. I’m sure you can handle things on your own, am I right?”

Rudy just growled at her. There was no point in replying to her on this. He knew what she was going to say, anyway.

Penny just shrugged her shoulders and said, “I have no idea why you are reacting this way. It’s like you don’t trust me or something.”

Rudy could immediately hear the sarcasm in that voice and he immediately snarled lowly. “You know exactly why I…” He stopped himself and moved back a few steps. He shut his mouth tightly and looked away. It was not worth the risk to continue with what he was going to say.

“Acting like a coward now, are we?” Penny said, teasing him. Rudy felt his body shake, but he forced himself to remain silent. “Have it your way, Rudy. I still hope you intend to read that paper carefully.”

“Like I’m that stupid...” Rudy grumbled. He moved the paper around in his hands before turning down to look at it. “Of course I would read it.” He moved the paper up and down slowly as he peered at it carefully. The handwriting was clear, but still pretty tiny. “Not like I have any thing else to help me out here."

Penny merely nodded her head. Rudy could see her moving away from him. He couldn’t tell what she was going to do next, and he feared what the answer would be. He tried his best to keep silent.

“I recommend you try reading that as quickly as possible. I want you to have enough supplies gathered to leave as soon as possible.” Penny gave a small pause for a few moments before she lifted her head to look straight up. “I imagine that I can trust you do that?”

Rudy grumbled softly. “Sure, whatever...” He lowered the paper as he looked at her more head on. “And you are going to do what you promised? That duel?” Penny nodded her head. “And if I win, are you actually going to keep your word and...”

“Oh Rudy, why do you worry so much? I told you, it’s all arranged and you should not have to worry about whether or not I fulfill what I said. I told you I would. Remember...” Penny held her hand up slowly, showing Rudy the mark on her palm. “We are both bound to this.”

Rudy looked down at his hand. He could see the mark there, the slash that still looked red and still sometimes stung him. He folded his hand into a small fist, wincing at the pain that spread throughout his hand. He lowered it and he nodded his head in Penny’s direction. “O-Okay then... So when do I get started?”

Penny grinned at this. “Why, right about now... That is, if you are prepared.” She motioned her hand out in gesture at this.

Rudy was not entirely sure about this. But he was already in this deep. He couldn’t back out so easily now. He just furrowed his eyes deeply and forced himself to nod his head. There was no turning back from here.


	9. Let The Games Begin

So Rudy had gone, left to go to this convention that he wanted to go to, leaving behind Sophie and her mother alone, wondering how well he was going to do. He was an adult, something that none of them would really argue with. But that didn’t make this whole situation any easier to swallow. Something could still go wrong and if something did happen, neither of them would be able to forgive themselves.

But that’s just how it went, right? Sometimes in life, you have to take risks. Sometimes things go fine and other times, it’s not what you would expect. In the end, though, the best way to learn was to take risks. It was the best way to fully understand the consequences.

But for Sophie, this just wasn’t good enough. She wanted to do something more for Rudy. She wished that she would have figured out a way that he would have been comfortable with her going. She was interested in this art convention as well. And he could have used the company. Wasn’t there safety in numbers, anyway? It was like Rudy was tossing out that rule in favor of keeping her home because he was so paranoid about what Penny would do if she found her.

Sophie could feel her heart sting when she thought about that girl. She still found it so hard to believe that Penny would have killed her own mother like that. The image was still engrained in Sophie’s mind. That’s not something that she needed to see during that time of her life.

There was no doubt in her mind that Penny must have been the one who killed Rudy. And though Rudy did not fully confirm this, she suspected that Penny was somehow responsible for Rudy’s disappearance as well, playing it off like he was dead so that she could keep him for however long that she wanted. Despite not knowing most of what happened and how this transpired, Sophie couldn’t help but feel increasingly sick.

To think that there had been a time when she had liked Penny...

Sophie had attempted to speak with her mother about trying to go anyway. Her mom did agree that Rudy should not go alone. But she had already promised Rudy that she would not get in the way or violate his wishes. She wouldn’t budge on this, despite Sophie’s efforts.

It might not have been as bad if Rudy had brought his cellphone with him. But he had left that behind apparently. She didn’t know if it was on purpose or not. It was way too late at this point to bring it over. Rudy would have contact with the hotel phone anyway, so that would be a way to get in contact with him. And it was only going to be for a few days, anyway. It wouldn’t be that bad. Or so Sophie hoped.

Sophie decided that it was best to try to preoccupy herself with something. She couldn’t just stand around here thinking about her sorrows. Maybe a little bit of art would help cheer her up.

Perhaps a chalk drawing? She noticed there was a small chalkboard still sitting here. Hmm but where could she find a piece of chalk? She rummaged through the ground, pushing aside objects to see if she could find a piece. She picked up clothes and discarded art supplies, shaking them, trying to find something that she could use. She could hear some things thudding into the ground, but no piece of chalk. What a...

“Sophie, can you come down here?”

“Coming, mom!”

Sophie dropped the pants on the ground and made her way to the door. She didn’t see the sparkling chalk falling into the ground.

sss

“So do you understand it all?”

“Yes.”

“And you know what to do?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“Well, good for you.”

Penny enjoyed the way that Rudy was glaring at her. She liked that he was getting annoyed with her. That meant she was doing her job well enough. She might not be able to hurt him now, but at least she could have a little bit of fun with him. It was enough to make her smile twistedly, and she was tempted to tease him with another kiss.

But enough with that. They both had wasted enough time. Rudy got what he needed and now it was time to let him go. He had all the instructions that he needed, and he did seem to understand there would be consequences if he tried to back out of this, even if she didn’t specifically state this. Rudy’s lowered head of submission, even if slight, was enough to tell her that Rudy understood this clearly.

“You may leave now, Rudy.” Said Penny. “You will start by leaving where you came, and then use that map to get to your first destination. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be hard for you to figure out where you need to go first.” Penny tilted her head slightly upwards. “There, in fact, should be a trail that begins somewhere close outside. Should be hard to miss.”

Rudy nodded his head slowly, keeping his mouth shut. He gave her another glare, but still refrained from speaking any words. He probably realized that if he tried something like that, he was just going to land himself in hot water. He was such a smart little boy, wasn’t he?

Though admittingly, Penny almost found herself feeling disappointed, even though she would get a shot at him later.

Regardless, she didn’t change her smirking expression as Rudy began to walk away from her. Soon, he vanished out of this clearing and not long after, she was left alone in this clearing. It was only after Rudy was out of sight that she narrowed her eyes and curled her lip up in a grimace.

So everything had been set. She got this all finished and now all she had to do was wait. She did still have her suspicions that Rudy might try something. But she also realized that this wasn’t going to be too much of an issue. Why should it be? She had everything planned out and she had Skrawl and Craniac isued with their assignments. They both knew what to do and they knew what would happen if they did try to disobey her.

So why was she feeling like this? Why did she feel like she could have done something more? It was almost tempting to change plans and go with Rudy. But that would shake things up too much and it wasn’t going to do her much good. Rudy may try to act out and be too difficult to handle. She didn’t want to have to hurt him if she could help it until she got that spark chalk.

Honestly, she didn’t care if the spark chalk would turn her into a chalk-wielding zoner or not. She just wanted to tire Rudy out so that she could finish him off more easily.

This thought caused her to smile twistedly, chuckling lowly as she thought of how Rudy did not seem to realize this. How could he have been so stupid that he didn’t notice that Penny had deliberately set things up for him to get so worn out from the journey, that he would be easy to pick off? She would have thought that he would have seen right through her little trap, especially since he didn’t exactly make it much of a secret that he didn’t trust her. This was just going to make it much more amusing for her to see his realization later on when…

Penny stopped herself, realizing that she was getting a little too distracted for her own good. She didn’t want to waste any further time here. There was something else that she wanted to do. There was someone who was deserving of her time, and for this turn, it was not Rapsheeba that she desired.

The thought made her smile. She was going to have so much fun with…

Without another moment’s hesitation, Penny began her journey back towards the castle. She could not keep her guest waiting, now could she?

sss

Rudy walked along the path slowly, taking his time. He could see that Penny hadn’t been lying about the path. It was right here, noticeable and clearly viewable. It wound around like a long dirt snake, stretching off into the distance. It didn’t look like it even had an ending, but Rudy knew better. He had the map in his hand.

Rudy studied it carefully. It looked like he was going to need to travel north, well past ChalkZone City. It also looked like he was going to have to go past lands that he already visited and into lands he was not familiar with. He was confused at first as to why Penny would send him all the way out here other than to torture him. Then he realized that Penny must have expanded her knowledge of ChalkZone and knew more areas than he did now.

He furrowed his eyes. Was this part of why she was sending him on this trip? To put him in lands that he was not familiar with? He licked his lips slowly, nearly feeling his tongue drying up completely. He shook his head and forced himself to press on. Regardless of what Penny’s plan was, he still needed to go through with this.

Then he would have a chance to stop her once and for all.

...that is, unless she had some kind of plan…

The thought made him freeze, his blood running cold. Penny was smarter than him. Could she be trying to use that intelligence to try and….

The boy shook his head as he tried to keep his focus on the task at hand. If he let himself get too distracted, he was going to end up… He didn’t want to think about it too much. He had to keep believing that he had a way out of this, that he could stop Penny before she could even use the spark chalk. He could fight her and try to take her down. He could even….kill her… if it ultimately came to that. He didn’t like the idea, but he was willing to go through with it if he absolutely had to.

But there was another way, he realized, that he could stop her. A way that made him freeze thinking about it, but it was still an option. After all, if the spark chalk could turn a human into a zoner while retaining their drawing abilities, does that mean that he himself could use it?

The thought nearly caused him to stop walking in his tracks, licking his lips slowly. That was a possibility, he realized. If he could use the spark chalk before Penny, he might somehow gain some kind of leverage over her. Perhaps it would help him beat her. After all, if he turned himself into a zoner, he could create things for himself to make him stronger. He could replace his leg with something better. He could give himself physical weapons to attack Penny with.

Or perhaps he was just exaggerating this and perhaps he would not become that much stronger. This might not be the best kind of deal, now that he thought about it. Perhaps it was best to just forget about it and move on.

He realized almost too late that he nearly passed the checkmark that was indicated on the map. He quickly stopped himself and stared out ahead. He could see a path that looked to be split into three points. It almost reminded him of the feet of a chicken. He compared this image to what was shown on the map. He could see how these paths led into different parts of a forest. But each section looked distinct from each other. Varying shades of green, with some more vibrant than others.

Gazing down at the map, he could see what this place was called. It was not one that Penny had yet mentioned verbally, but it was pointed out in this map of hers.

Greying Leaf Forest.

And sure enough, as marked on the map, the pathway on the left led to the more dulled out section.

Rudy stood there in silence for several moments as he tried to think of how he should go about this. He swallowed hard and tried to gather up as much courage as he could. He was painfully aware that he might end up getting himself into trouble. He didn’t know what this place was, and considering that Penny was telling him to go here, that served little to no comfort to him at all.

After remaining standing there for long enough, he forced himself to head down along the path. It all looked pretty long, like it would take ages to reach the forest. But Rudy knew that, no matter what time he arrived at this forest, it would be too soon.

Indeed, as he walked down along the pathway, he could feel things slowing down all around him. It was like time was trying to stand still for him, giving him all the time in the world to make it over. And yet at the same time, things were also moving rather quickly. It was a contradictory state of being that made Rudy feel increasingly sick. He couldn’t tell just how much time had truly passed. He didn’t know at this point when he would even arrive in the Greying Leaf Forest. For all he knew, he might already be in it and he just did not know.

The way that his vision was distorting only made matters worse. He could see everything stretching outwards and up. Things were getting smaller or larger or spinning around in a blurred twirl. Everything seemed to shake and stretch and he wondered if the landscape before him was transforming into a tornado.

Despite the dizzying image in front of him, Rudy somehow managed to keep himself moving forward. He had to be careful with his steps. He had to take care with how he shifted his weight around. He could feel himself swaying from side to side a few times. He could feel his feet sleeping once or twice and he nearly paid the price for that.

Then finally, after a few more dizzy-like minutes walking and trying to keep his balance, he realized that he had arrived right at the edge of the forest. Almost all at once, everything shifted and wobbled back into shape. It was almost like nothing had been happening at all. He stood there for a few seconds as he tried to let this sink in. Then, licking his lips slowly, he moved forward carefully.

He felt himself shudder as he entered the forest, passing through a small opening made up of overlapping leaves. He could feel darkness being moved all across his body. It danced along him and he could feel more leaves touching his skin. The air around him was slightly thicker and he thought he could taste something uncomfortable on his tongue. He still pressed on despite that.

The first few seconds were uneventful. Nothing appeared to really happen and he could not see any inhabitants right here. He looked around carefully, trying to control his breathing. Then he forced himself to continue on.

But as he got in a little deeper, he thought he could something snap to his side. Nothing there. Then another snap. He could still see nothing. His pace slowed down immediately, his teeth gritting in fear.

And then, without warning, something crashed into his side.

“Raaawr!”

sss

“Okay thanks for the help!”

“You’re welcome, mom!” Sophie called out as she turned and began to walk away. “Come find me if you need help again!”

Whew, that took a little longer than she had expected. Sophie didn’t think that her mom would keep her positioned downstairs for that long. Especially not for something that she might have been able to resolve on her own with a little thought. But of course her mom was pretty busy and stressed out lately, so perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised that her mom needed help with something that should have been so simple.

Well whatever. It was time to keep moving forward with what she was going to do. She still wasn’t sure what kind of art she was going to draw, but just that it was going to be on the chalkboard.

It was going to feel like a distant memory. Gawd, how long has it been already? Several years since the last time she did anything with the chalkboard? She recalled her mom even thought of chucking it out. The only reason why she did not was because she pleaded with her to keep it and eventually convinced her. At least somewhat. The look on her mom’s face did tell more of the story. At least she got to keep the chalkboard.

Sophie made her way up the steps slowly as she formulated in her head what she was going to draw. Perhaps she could draw something for Rudy when he came back? Yeah, he would probably like that. He used to draw on the chalkboard all the time. Maybe making something all nice and pretty for him to show when he returned would bring a smile to his face.

There was quite a bit that she could draw, but she would figure it out when she got into her room. She could even do many pictures until she found the right one. Not like it was going to hurt anything, and the board was always smeared anyway. Not like this was going to make much of a difference.

Soon she entered her bedroom, shutting the door behind her for a bit of privacy. She looked around for the chalkboard. It was still where she had left it. She gave a small grimace when she noticed how dusty it was. Had she really left it uncleaned for that long? She would not be surprised if there were spiders living on it now. But that didn’t really matter too much. She could easily take care of that later on. Right now, she wanted to look for a piece of chalk to use.

Now where had she been before with that? She had been looking close to her bed, wasn’t she? Yeah, she remembered shaking up some clothes and then dropping them when she was called. Perhaps that’s where she should be looking. Without another thought, she made her way towards her bed to look around some more. But when when she got over there, she could already notice something a little off. Something that caught her eye. Something that almost seemed to shine below her. Turning her head down, that’s when she saw it.

It looked at first like any ordinary piece of chalk that she had used before. Nothing special. But that was soon called into question when she noticed something pretty off about this chalk. Something that she had never seen white chalk do before.

Why was it glowing and sparkling like that..?

Sophie stared at it long and hard, her thoughts moving through her head rather quickly as she tried to understand what was going on here. She could not make full sense of it. Something about it just did not feel right, like it was nagging at her in the back of her mind constantly. Maybe it was not sparkling and it was her imagination, but in that case, wouldn’t it have stopped already? Or maybe it was just glitter? But the glitter was on the other side of the room.

What in the world was going on here…?

As Sophie stared at the piece of chalk intently, she tried to reach out for it. She kept stopping herself and pulling her hand back. She could not bring herself to actually touch it. Something about that just felt wrong. This piece of chalk just...looked wrong.

Yet it still compelled her to try to reach for it. It was almost screeching at her to pick it up. This sensation freaked Sophie out, and yet still drew her in closer. She could not reconcile this conflicting sensation, making her body shake a little in the process.

Staring at the chalk, she started to get a sense of familiarity with it. She did not know why nor could she fully understand the circumstances that…. But that did not change how her mind was responding. There was something about it that was whispering to her that she had seen this somewhere before. She could feel her mind telling her that this was not the first time that she had seen this item before.

It had to be her imagination running wild. There was no way that she had seen this before. There was no way that she had ever touched something like this before. If she did, she would have remembered it. This... all that she was feeling was just a vague sensation, probably brought on by a combination of stress and nostalgia. Yeah, that’s all it was in the end. This was just an ordinary piece of chalk and once she started to use it, she would see for herself that there was nothing to get worked up over.

Sophie reached her hand down towards the piece of chalk slowly. She took her time, as though she felt she was going to screw this up if she did this wrong. She soon realized just how ridiculous that she was being, and she just snatched the chalk in her hand.

Sophie stared at the piece of chalk for several long moments, feeling her heart beating at a slightly quickened rate as she looked at this white stick up and down like it was going to bite her. She could see that the sparkles were still flying all over the place. She could pratically feel them tingling around her hand, the chalk itself feeling warmer than she had expected it to. This filled her mind with more confusion and she nearly dropped the chalk.

Yet somehow, she still held onto it. She still felt compelled to keep her hand squeezing around it. She thought she could feel the urge to draw something with this increase in her head. Something was telling her to go up to the chalkboard and just draw. She didn’t know why or how this was happening. But she could soon feel herself moving over towards the nearby chalkboard. It was like her legs had a mind of their own.

She stared at the black surface for what felt like a couple of minutes, her eyes slowly blinking as she stared at the blank surface. She could feel her head buzzing around with many thoughts and she took in a few slow breaths. Then she forced herself to take a step forward and reach out with her magic chalk. She put the tip against the board itself and she started to move the chalk downward.

She almost screamed and dropped the chalk when she noticed that there was now a bright glow practically shooting out of the chalkboard. The light nearly burned her eyes and she had to reel herself back a little. She took a few more seconds to stare at this phenomenon before she cautiously moved the chalk closer, only to stop herself.

Just what was this thing here? What was going on? Why was the board glowing. What kind of chalk was this? She had heard of some art supplies glowing, but only in the dark and not quite like this. Sophie swallowed hard as her head spun, struggling to think of just what was going on here. She tried to think of a rational explanation. Nothing that she thought of made much sense. The only way to figure out what was going on was to...

With her throat going slightly drier than before, she forced herself to push the chalk against the board. She did her best to remain as calm as possible before she forced herself to start drawing slowly. She stretched her hand upwards, the glow following her around. She soon began to wonder what would happen if she connected the two sides. So she moved her arm in a broad arc, bringing it back over to where she had began. Then the two sides connected and she was immediately overtaken by a bright light. She seethed and backed away. It took her several seconds before she could bring herself to lift her arm up. And when she did, she gasped loudly.

What was this that she was seeing? Was it even real? Was she just hallucinating? It looked real enough that she could reach out and touch it. But at the same time, she still held herself back. Something just felt off about doing this. She still felt like... She was not sure how to describe it.

But no matter how many times she rubbed her eyes, the image stayed. It was practically burning into her retina and she could not turn back away from it. She could feel a breeze coming from this hole that she created, a reminder to her that this was not some big fake thing. She could try to deny it all that she wanted to. But in the end...

....this really was a hole into another world, wasn’t it...?

Sophie stared at the small opening that she made, noticing the green fields present there, the pale blue sky, and how it all looked so fake and yet so real at the same time. It reminded her of a child’s drawing, like the ones she and Rudy used to draw when they were younger. But here, they seemed to almost have a third dimensional feel to them. It was something that she never thought she could describe about a chalk drawing before.

With her teeth pressing into her lip, Sophie reached her hand out into the hole. She hesitated for a few moments, partly wondering if the glowing tips were going to slice her hand off. Then she pulled her hand back and moments later, thrust it forward. It went through the hole and she jerked despite not feeling anything, and she just held her hand and arm there. Nothing happened, yet she felt like her arm was going to get chopped off at any moment.

This place was real... She could hardly believe it... Sophie couldn’t stop staring at the opening that she had created. She could feel her head clamoring with many thickly forming thoughts and questions about this place. She wondered just what it could be, how she had gained access to it, if Rudy knew anything about this, what the implications were...

Sophie’s first instinct was to tell her mother about this. She trusted her mother’s judgment and perhaps she would know what was the best thing to do with this situation. But then she froze at the thought of it. What if her mom got hurt? What if there was more to this place than met the eye? Perhaps she should go in first to make sure it was safe?

But her mom was older and wiser. She would be able to better handle this. She would know what to do if trouble came forward. She herself, she was just a teenager. While other teenagers might be cocky, she at least acknowledged that she didn’t have all the answers. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that the best thing to do was to tell her mom about it.

So why couldn’t she...?

The girl tried her best to push the thought aside for now. She was being presented with an opportunity here, she realized. She might very well be the first person ever to see something like this. What if she could become famous for discovering this? People would not be able to ignore her and they would have to take her at least somewhat more seriously, right? She should grab onto this before someone else could swipe it from her.

But there was still a bit of hesitation. Because she was the first far as she knew, there was nothing that she could turn to help her learn about this place. She didn’t know whether or not it was safe. She didn’t know if she would make it back alive. There were so many what ifs running through her head and it was becoming difficult to keep up. Her head started to quake with several thoughts.

But she would not know anything if she just remained here, doing nothing, right? She would not be able to understand this world or how it functions or anything if she stood here just staring at it. She knew that the only way was to just enter it and take that dive. Isn’t that how all famous explorers discovered things, anyway? By putting aside their fears in order to work towards spreading knowledge?

She could be like that as well. She could be the one to explore this new landscape. She could be the one to report on it and it could be expanded upon. Everyone would have to credit her for this finding. No matter what other people say, she would still be regarded as the most important person in this discovery. People would no longer dismiss her as just ‘a crazy child’.

Sophie could feel herself starting to smile at this. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so big, bad, and scary like she thought. Perhaps she would get some benefit out of this. Perhaps it would more than make up for the risk that she was about to take. So with that thought in her mind, she moved herself forward, going through the portal slowly and carefully....

...or more like, tripping over the chalkboard and falling into the world beneath her. She was not prepared for the sudden drop and she let out a scream as she fell downwards and landed on her back, her body stretched upward and arching forward. She stayed like this before she fell straight down. She raised her hand up and rubbed the back of her head. She then peered up at where she had fallen.

The drop was not as bad as she thought it would have been. But the...portal...was still overhanging higher than she realized it would be. She was not sure how exactly she would get back up there. She furrowed her eyes. That was going to be a problem.

But she was certain that she could figure it out. First, she wanted to get an idea of this world. With a smile on her face, she stood straight and looked around left and right at her surroundings. She could see more of the chalky landscape that formed around her, and it tingled her mental senses as she saw both the realism and the nonrealism colliding together to create this world. In some ways, it was terrifying, but also exciting. There’s never been a place like this before. The possibilities, they...

Sophie gave a small shudder when she thought she could hear a distant shout somewhere. She tried to figure out where it was coming from. When the sound came again, she stared out in one direction. It was a little hard to tell, even with putting her hand over her eyes, but she thought she could see some distant, faint lighting. Was there perhaps a city over here? How very interesting... She wondered what it was like and she felt compelled to move forward.

She then froze in her tracks when she made another realization. It didn’t take long for her to come to this conclusion, and it took even a shorter amount of time for her to feel panic racing through her body.

Something was coming right at her.

“Aaaahh! Somebody, help me!” Came a loud scream, causing Sophie to jump. “Get it away from me!”

“Raaawr!”

Sophie tensed her body up as she prepared herself for what was coming. She could see the nearby foliage rustling a little, shaking from the pressure of the heavy footsteps coming her way. She released a few low growls, her body practically sweating, her mind swirling with many thoughts. She had no idea what could be coming her way or what could be happening. Her stomach bile rose up into her mouth, making her taste its bitterness. Although she had no idea if it would work or not, she held her chalk up defensively. It was the only thing that she had to use as a weapon.

But what if this thing was indestructible? What if she would be nothing more than a morsel for it? Whatever was coming? She should probably turn around and run off to get away. It was the only way that she could stay safe. She...

It was too late. She could see blurs exiting out of the bush in front of her. She could hear the thudding of them landing on the ground. And with them in her sight range, she could tell what they were.

Two...chalky creatures were rushing outwards into the open field. One of them was frightened-looking, human-like in structure and...feminine, she guessed? Her dreadlocks were flapping in the air around her, her clothes a little torn, as she tried to get away from the second creature. This other one was reptilian in nature, with metallic shining ‘skin’ and a long whip-like tail with a sharp tip and glowing eyes. It was gaining on the smaller, human-like creature, its mouth open wide to bite.

The human-like one looked like she was having trouble keeping away. Her mouth was open and panting heavily. Sweat was rapidly moving down her face, her hair sticking to her skin a little. She looked behind her, looking absolutely terrified.

And the metal creature was catching up.

Sophie could feel her heart sink for the poor human-like creature. She might not know anything about it or if her actions were even genuine. But she could recognize the distress she seemed to be in, and something about that resonated in her. She put her fingers to her lips and bit them firmly as she watched the little creature try so desperately to get away.

It wouldn’t last for long. She snagged her foot in the ground and she flipped in the air. She rammed into the surface, dirt kicking upwards. She coughed and she spluttered, pushing herself up from the ground. Her hair was messed up as a result, and it looked like her face was a little scratched up. She looked behind her and the metal thing was already upon her. She let out a cry of pain as the metal reptile beast slammed into her, its paw pressing up against her body. Its claws dug in, causing her to let out a cry of pain.

But that didn’t mean that she was ready to give up. The humanoid chalk thing started to struggle frantically, wriggling herself from side to side to get free. She struck at the creature’s metal legs. She formed fists with her hands and punched several times, despite the obvious pain that this was causing her. The metal lizard didn’t seem to care. It just opened its big, sharp-toothed mouth and roared at the hapless creature.

Sophie trembled when she saw this. She took a few steps back, wondering just what the hell she had stumbled upon. She could not tear her eyes away from this, her mouth going dry rapidly. Everything seemed to spin out of control for her and she grew increasingly sick. Something was compelling her to do something, but another part of her wanted her to run. She was not sure what she should do.

Then the human-like chalk being turned to look over at her. Their eyes locked onto each other. Sophie found that she couldn’t move. Something was preventing her from being able to tear her gaze away. It was almost like this being knew that she might be able to help her, and she was taking that chance.

“Y-You!” The chalk thing spluttered out. “Y-You got the chalk, r-r-right?”

Sophie lifted her hand up as she examined the sparkling chalk carefully. She looked back at the chalk creature.

The human-like creature nodded her head rapidly. “Yes, that! D-Draw something with it!”

Sophie furrowed her eyes in confusion. She cocked her head to one side. “How is that going to...”

“Just do it! Hurry! Aaaah!”

“W-Wait...!” Sophie reached her hand out, but stopped herself and moved back. She watched as the metal thing bit down on the humanoid creature, drawing blood. “No! Stop it!”

The human-like creature screamed as she was being ripped up from the ground, shaken in the air. “Draw something quick, human!”

“I don’t know how that will help!”

“Use the fucking magic chalk, you idiot!”

Sophie froze at that statement. Magic? This chalk was magic? What was this creature thinking? There’s nothing at all magical about chalk sticks. Sure, they could be used to create artwork. But surely, there’s nothing that this thing could do to help...

But wait, what about that portal she drew? She hadn’t seen any chalk do that. How could she have dismissed this chalk as being unimportant? She looked down at it carefully, her mouth nearly dropping open when she realized that... This couldn’t be an ordinary piece of chalk...

She still didn’t know how she was going to use it. She didn’t know how it worked in the first place. Was it something she did or said? The way that she was positioned? Or was it...

“Aaaargh!”

Crack!

Sophie raised her head up as she head the sound of the human-like chalk creature’s arm being snapped in half, nearly ripped clean from her body. Sophie felt a rush of burning horror going through her stomach. She didn’t know what compelled her to do it, but she finally rose up the magic chalk and started to move it downward a little...

...and she noticed that it was leaving a mark there. She stopped, startled by this, and she watched it drop into the ground. She blinked a few times, and then slowly she could feel realization crawling up in the back of her neck. She narrowed her eyes slowly as she turned to glare at the metal creature. She raised the piece of chalk up once more, and she began to make her move.


	10. New Old Aquaintances

Rudy could feel seering pain rushing through his body as the long, horned snake bit down on his arm. He could feel it trying to inject its venom into him. Although he was immune to most of its effects, it still burned, causing him to yank his arm away, yelping as the hooked teeth scraped along his skin. He scrambled to get back from the long, slender zoner.

The four-legged snake was quick to get back on its feet, its shining green body with a yellow shimmer along its scales moved around him slowly. It watched him with those huge, amber-colored eyes, its thin, long, whip-like tail twitching around in agitation. Its tongue slithered out as though wanting to taste him. Rudy shuddered at this and he got himself ready for a continued fight.

This creature was feral, he could tell. It was not intended to be anything more than a wild animal, a predator at that. And Rudy realized that he was its prey. Or so it thought. If this thing wanted to eat him, it was going to get a very nasty, painful surprise.

Rudy would much rather things not having to come to that, however. He instead narrowed his eyes slowly as he tried to shift his focus on some way that he could get this four-legged snake thing to back off. He didn’t have much time and he had to be conservative with the chalk. So how was he going to go about it? How was he going to take care of this creature before it ended up doing too much damage to him?

There was one thought that came to his mind. It caused him to freeze and grow sick, rubbing his stomach to try to help it feel better. There was no way that he could do something like that. He couldn’t go that far....could he? He didn’t want to end up having to use another zoner as bait. No, that’s something that the Chalk Queen would do. He was better than her and he was going to prove it.

Somehow.

The snake creature started to advance on him again. It opened its flexible jaws and flickered out its tongue as it let out a long, low hiss. Rudy flinched as he heard it and he took another step back. He let himself go a little more tense as his teeth became gritted tightly. Then he saw that it was trying to make a move towards him and Rudy jumped to the side, managing to dodge it just in time.

But the snake was quick to get back onto its feet. Rudy could hear its talons scraping the ground as it got up and went towards him again. He could already feel those glowing eyes upon him and it charged at him again. Rudy could not get out of the way this time and he could feel the snake zoner hitting up against him. The lightweightedness of the zoner did not mean much to Rudy when he was being slammed into the ground.

Rudy attempted to struggle, but the zoner already had a hold of him. He could feel those talons wrapping around him good and tight. He hissed through clenched teeth as he glared up at the zoner. He opened his mouth to speak, but he could already feel those talons piercing into his skin. He struggled not to let out a yelp. He began to look around frantically as he tried to see just what he could use to get out of this situation.

It was difficult for him to think as the snake zoner put pressure on his injured arm. Blood was still soaking into the ground and his own skin, causing a bit of steam to rise up from where it contacted the chalky surface. Rudy seethed as he tried to struggle to handle this seering sensation. Looking up, he saw the snake zoner opening its mouth for another attack. There was little time to react when it struck forward. Thinking fast, Rudy did the first thing that came to his mind.

He freed his damaged arm and swung it upward, hitting against the zoner’s chest as hard as he could, spreading the blood along this area.

Rudy immediately regretted it, his freed hand clinging to his mouth in horror as he saw the snake-like zoner sprawling on the ground, scratching at the burning spot, only for it to end up cutting itself. Some of the blood intermixed with the chalk blood, entering into the zoner’s body. This caused it to screech more loudly in pain.

Rudy tried to think of what he could do to stop this from happening. But he was locked in place, his mouth dropping open in shock. He got up to his feet shakingly as he watched the zoner back away. The screeching lasted for several more seconds before it seemed to quiet down. The zoner was still in a lot of pain, as evidenced by how wide its eyes were. And when it looked over at Rudy like that, the young man could feel something tightening up inside of his chest.

The snake zoner’s whole demeanor and attitude changed right then and there. It appeared to have lost its desire to go after him. It instead just started to back away from him slowly, its head and body lowering a little to the ground. Its long body was bent upwards like a loop and the way it moved back was almost comical.

But Rudy didn’t laugh. All he could do was just stare sadly at the zoner moving away from him, its body trembling. He could see the burn mark that he left with this blood, the gashes that had charred edges around them. That zoner might survive, but it was still in for one heck of a recovery haul in the future. He hoped that it did manage to survive somehow. He had never intended on hurting the thing that badly. He did not want to become like the Chalk Queen. He just couldn’t...

The snake zoner let out one last hiss at him, this one a warning one, as though telling him to stay away from it. Then it shifted its body around it began to run off into the distance. Rudy watched as it disappeared, left alone in shock.

Rudy wasn’t sure how much longer he remained on this spot. He didn’t know how long he spent staring at the spot where the zoner had disappeared to. It seemed to take him forever before he managed to snap himself out of his stupor. He shook his head before he forced himself to look down at his map, shakingly looking to see where he was.

It looked like he should continue along this path. Pale and hard to see, but from the looks of it, it should take him to his next destination. Swamp Deluge, it looks like. He grimaced. Great, another spot with more wild animals.

But he didn’t have a choice. He swallowed hard and he began to move himself along the winding path.

sss

Sophie didn’t know what the heck had gone on. She didn’t know what had brought all of this about or how to percieve it. She could barely grasp everything that transpired. Only that she had done....something, that resulted in this.

She stood there, her body trembling, as she looked over at the sparking, trembling form that was the robotic lizard. It looked broken, bent at odd angles in a few places. There were areas that were torn open and electricity sparked out of them. The beast appeared to be making cries of pain, loudly distorting in the air. Then its eyes that glowed started to fade rapidly until there was nothing there.

Sophie looked down at the weapon she had drawn. It was a simple caddle prod...for the most part. There were jagged edges at the tip and she had swung it out towards the creature. She could still hear its loud shriek of pain when it had initially made contact with it. The blow had been enough to knock the creature back away from the human-like one on the ground.

Sophie could still feel herself flinching as she recalled that she hadn’t stopped just because of that. The single blow wasn’t the only one she had done. It was like adrenaline had took control over her. She had struck against the thing again and again, trying to beat it into the ground. The metal reptile had suffered multiple injuries. Before her adrenaline finally died down, the beast had collapsed, and it didn’t look like it was going to survive.

Many thoughts raced through her head at this realization. She opened her mouth and she could feel herself panting heavily. She could feel her mouth going dry and everything just felt stiff and almost sickening. She forced herself to swallow hard as she tried to ponder what she was going to do now. She hadn’t meant to do something like this.

And yet... it was her actions that saved this...whatever this thing was. Perhaps there was a bright side to all of this?

But that didn’t stop the horrible thoughts from weighing down upon her. It didn’t stop the dizziness from taking a hold of her a few times. It didn’t stop her from putting her hand to her mouth and struggling not to let herself throw up. She did manage to keep herself standing. But how knows how long that will last.

After a few moments of staring like this, Sophie turned to look over at the other chalk creature here. She could see the human-like creature was getting up onto her feet, wobbling a little. Sophie felt compelled to help, but something froze her in spot. She instead decided to wait and see what this...person was going to tell her. She could see her turn her head to face her and lock eyes with her. And then she started to speak.

“Thank you... I thought I was a goner for sure...” She said softly.

Sophie didn’t know what to say at first. She didn’t know how to go about this. Did these chalk things speak like she did? Communicate in the same way? Would she somehow insult her if she....

The chalk person seemed to sense her hesitance. At least, that’s what it appeared to be when she noticed the way that she was looking at her. At least she didn’t seem all that upset and instead just smiled at her. “My name is Rapsheeba. Well, Queen Rapsheeba, but you don’t need to address me like that.”

“That’s...a pretty name.” Sophie managed to say.

Rapsheeba smiled at her. She seemed to flinch in pain, and Sophie looked over her battered body. It would seem that the reptile had done a number on her. “Thanks, I...” She stopped herself for a moment and then furrowed her eyes slightly at Sophie. “What is your name, human?”

“I....I’m Sophie...”

Rapsheeba seemed to freeze at this name. She leaned in a little closer, looking rather cautious all of a sudden. “Sophie...? You mean...” She paused for a moment. She smacked her lips a few times, sounding rather dry. She then forcibly said, “Are you, by any chance, related to one called Rudy Tabootie?”

Sophie felt like something had struck her in the face. She struggled to keep her balance as she moved back quickly. She looked at the chalk creature for several long moments. She struggled to speak, but her voice was caught in her throat. She could feel emotion and thoughts rushing through her body.

Just how was this possible...? How could this creature know about her cousin...? She was the first here, right?

Unless...

What if Rudy...

Sophie could feel her heart start to break in her chest as realization rapidly dawned over her.

Rapsheeba had moved in closer to her. She didn’t notice the zoner until she was right up to her. She reached her hand out towards her. Sophie stared at this gesture almost blankly, like she was lost in another world at the moment.

“There is much we need to discuss...” Rapsheeba whispered softly. “But we need to find a place to hide first. Come on!”

Sophie did nothing to fight back as Rapsheeba, despite being smaller than her, dragged her across the grassy hills.

sss

What the...? Could it really be possible that this was happening...? Didn’t Rudy try harder to prevent an accident like this from happening?

Apparently not. This realization made Penny growl loudly as she remained high above the ground, Courtney’s beating wings keeping her aloft. She had a long, powerful hand telescope in her hand. She had watched the entire thing with Courtney and Rapsheeba. She had been watching with intent to see her robot lizard recapture Rapsheeba, who somehow managed to escape.

But she never thought that she would see something like this. The woman struggled to think of how she should handle this situation. Having Sophie here was going to really complicate the situation.

Her mind raced with several thoughts as she tried to think of how she was going to handle this. She couldn’t just let Sophie wander around here like this. What if she managed to stumble upon her plan and try to do something about it? What if she managed to find Rudy and help him succeed? She could feel her mind burning with rage at these thoughts. It was simply not something that she could permit to continue to be a problem.

But figuring out what to do was going to be tricky. Sophie appeared to have magic chalk with her and so she was not defenseless. She knew little about her nowadays, so she didn’t know what kind of art she’d draw. She would be unpredictable. The fact that she was with the fugitive Rapsheeba was going to make things even trickier to figure out.

But she wasn’t willing to give up that easily. No, that was the last thing that she should do. Perhaps she should consult Skrawl and Craniac to…. No, they were already working on something. She couldn’t bother them right now. This was something that she was going to have to take care of herself.

Then a twinkle sparked in her eyes, and she could feel herself starting to sneer. Who said that this had to be a difficult decision? Rudy probably did not know his cousin was in here. If something were to happen to her in here, there would be no evidence for the cops in the Real World to trace back to this place. She would just need to figure out what portal she had come from and take care of that. Then once she had the girl trapped in here…

Penny could feel her smile stretching almost unnaturally as she signalled Courtney to pull herself up and turn around to one side. Penny decided that she wouldn’t head in just yet, nor would she come from directly behind. That isn’t the best way to plan an ambush, now is it?

She continued to sneer to herself as she headed off into the distance.

sss

“So this place is called ChalkZone…?” Sophie asked. Her voice was low and hushed. For some reason, Rapsheeba wanted her to keep her voice down. “And all of you chalk creatures are called zoners?”

Rapsheeba nodded her head. “That is correct.”

“Does that include the ground, the trees, the…”

“No, only the ones that are alive, like me, are considered zoners.”

“Oh, then what of…”

“That isn’t important. And right now, we do need to keep going.”

Sophie was about to keep asking for more answers. But she quickly thought better of it. She was not going to get much of answer at this point. Rapsheeba seemed intent on taking her somewhere. Sophie could feel her legs already burning at this point. But there was no turning back and no stopping. Despite how she was feeling, she forced herself to keep going as fast as she could, doing whatever to keep up with the zoner in front of her.

They were going through what appeared to be a jungle of some kind. There were a few wild animals in here, like some snakes in the trees, a distant rhino, and a few monkeys. It didn’t appear to be very accurate to any jungle that she knew of. That served as a testament to her that she was not back at home any longer. This whole place reeked of foreign auras.

And yet as they moved around, there was something almost...familiar about this place. She didn’t know how that could be the case. She had never been here before. And yet, no matter what she told herself, she could not shake off the feeling of being here before. Something was rumbling in the back of her head, telling her that she had seen this before. She couldn’t stop the sensation of deja vu ringing in her head. She could feel her heart stinging in frustration as she struggled to understand.

And yet…

Sophie shook her head. She was just overreacting. She couldn’t have been here before. Her mind was just playing tricks on her. She was just getting confused, riled up by that monstrous zoner attack. She needed to rest, time to let her mind calm down. Then she wouldn’t be plagued by these thoughts. Then things would move on just fine and…

She let out a small grunt as she hit against something solid and warm. She gave another shake of her head and looked at the zoner in front of her. She saw that Rapsheeba had stopped moving suddenly. It was a miracle that, with her smaller size, she didn’t get knocked over entirely. Rapsheeba slowly looked up at her, her eyes narrowed a little bit. Sophie wondered if she had pissed her off or something.

But Rapsheeba didn’t seem to pay attention to what just happened. Instead, she raised her finger up and put it against her lip. “Shhh…” Rapsheeba whispered. “I see movement. Stay low.”

Sophie could feel her heart skipping a beat at this. “What is it? Another lizard? Or….”

Rapsheeba grabbed her arm and tugged her downward. “Just get down, you fool!”

Sophie let out a small yelp as she was pulled downward hard into the ground. Rapsheeba pulled her up into the nearest bush and put her body over her to keep her low. Sophie might be the bigger one of the two, but in this moment, she felt so small, being pinned down like this. She did nothing to fight back as Rapsheeba held her down firmly. Sophie could feel her body shaking slightly, fear rising up inside of her, and she looked around for whatever was coming this way.

It didn’t take long for her to start hearing some kind of noise. She swallowed hard, nervously, as she looked around again, her eyes sweeping left and right desperately. Just where was the intruder? What were they going to…?

Then she froze when a shadow began to move along in front of her slowly. The shadows danced upon her body, chilling her with their soft caresses. She could feel goosebumps spreading along her skin. She could feel herself pushing a little closer to Rapsheeba, as though the zoner was going to be able to protect her. She felt her body trembling a little harder and she bit her lip firmly.

Then she could soon see the shape moving in front of her. Something large and bulky. Kind of round in shape with what looked like antennas hanging out in front of itself. She could hear it growling lowly, but it didn’t sound as feral, nor robotic, like that other zoner did. This was something completely different.

She was about to ask Rapsheeba who this was. But the zoner quickly gagged her mouth, preventing her from saying anything, like she knew she was going to make noise. Sophie struggled briefly before she saw the black leg stepping out in front of her. She could see the details of chalk in the leg, and she could see the sharp claws that tapered off from it. She stared at this long and hard for the past several seconds before the foot was lifted up again. It looked like the zoner was leaving.

Looking up, she could see a glimpse of the thing. Green colored with some purple, walking on two legs, it looked like it could easily tear her into shreds if it so desired. Sophie could feel her skin crawling, as though trying to shrink away from her body. She tried to keep herself still, the air around her growing increasingly thick and bitter.

It seemed to take forever before the large zoner had disappeared out of sight. Even after it left, Rapsheeba kept herself pressed down. Was this thing with someone else? Was there something else about this area that she didn’t notice? Could there be…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Rapsheeba finally get up from her. She felt a rush of cool air hitting against her momentarily before the zoner grabbed onto her arm and pulled her up from the ground. Sophie grunted and growled, feeling her body wobbling to the side in the process. If it weren’t for Rapsheeba holding her up, she probably would have fallen into the ground.

After she was successfully balanced, she could hear the zoner hiss into her ear, “We have to keep moving. I can’t tell if his little buddies are with him or not.”

“Buddies? Who…” Sophie started to say.

“Shush up! One of them might hear you if they’re close! Just get up and follow me!” Rapsheeba growled under her breath. “Do you understand me?!”

Sophie nodded her head rapidly.

“Good. Now get up and follow me.” Rapsheeba looked left and right slowly. “I think the coast is clear. If we keep quiet, we should be able to find a place to hide without one of those goons finding us.”

Sophie wanted to ask what the zoner was implying. She hadn’t told her everything that went on. She didn’t even know why this world was like this, if it’s always been like this, or if there’s anything else that she needed to know. She could feel her mind’s gears turning and she could feel her stomach burning fiercely as she struggled to cope with these senses of curiosity.

But Rapsheeba was not going to have any of it. She was too focused, too determined in the moment, that even if she asked anything right now, Rapsheeba was not going to answer. All Sophie could do was just allow herself to be dragged towards an unknown destination. She was just going to have to wait until she reached a resting spot before she said anything else.

As they continued walking down, she couldn’t help but swallow nervously. There was a thought that came into her mind. Something that made her body quiver.

If this zoner knew Rudy Tabootie, then did she happen to know Penny Sanchez…?

Sophie swallowed hard, feeling a bitter taste in her mouth. She tried to jerk it off, trying not to give into the tempation of emptying her stomach contents. She had a feeling that she was going to get her answer soon. There was nothing right now to suggest that this zoner worked with Penny, or even if that horrible woman knew about this world anyway. She could just be overreacting. She should just… try to keep her head clear.

Everything would come into focus in due time, she knew.

Or at least, she hoped that it would.


	11. Reunited

It was hard to believe just how fast all of this had changed. He never thought that he would be already stepping onto some thick mud. He almost thought he reached the next spot on this map. But looking around, he could tell that he was still in the Twisted Forest. That was easy to determine with the way the branches and trees all around him twisted about, creating a wood swirl everywhere. It was almost dizzying to look at.

Rudy continued to move forward. He tried not to rush, not that he could with this thick mud that clung to his feet. He could feel himself nearly tripping a few times, and he almost lost his shoes at least twice now. He struggled to move out of the mud pit that he had walked into. When he was back on drier land, he did find it easier to move, but he still walked slowly. He took his time getting further and further down the path.

He could hear the wind moving around him, causing the branches to scratch up against each other. He almost thought there were some animals all around him trying to tear into each other. He cringed more and more the further he followed this path. He swallowed hard as he heard a distant call.

Suddenly, he heard something up ahead.

Rudy cringed his body inward, feeling every muscle all around him tightening up and getting ready to bolt. He had to fight with his own instincts to keep himself from moving too quickly. He ground his teeth together tightly, hissing a little, and he moved himself forward slowly. He glared out ahead of himself, watching for moving shapes, watching to see if he could see just what was coming at him. Whatever it was, he would not allow them to get the best of him that easily.

The shadows were getting closer. They were zipping towards him, hanging from the trees. He raised his head up, baring his teeth and moving his gaze from side to side as he tried to keep up with everything. His eyes constantly darted left and right. He only caught glimpses of the shadows. He still wasn’t able to see just what was trying to ambush him.

Every second that passed caused his heart to race a little faster. He could feel his heart nearly about to explode, his chest heaving rapidly, his throat drying up further. He felt his skin spreading with bumps, his hairs raising up on end, his eyes looking around and trying to focus. He wasn’t able to make out the intruders no matter what he tried. He soon couldn’t take it any further and he started to take a few steps backwards.

Then he heard a loud snap to his side. Rudy swung himself over in that direction. He felt his body tensing up and he tried to move quickly before any action could be taken. But he was not fast enough. The movement was quick. He could see a blur of coloring and he could feel a weight hitting against him. Rudy let out a loud cry of pain as he was pushed into the ground.

Quickly, Rudy tried to get up onto his feet. But at this point, it was too late. Whatever hit him already twisted his bad leg. He could feel himself stiffening up, echoes of pain running through his leg. Even the brace wasn’t enough to subside the pain.

All Rudy could do was just shut his eyes tightly and wait for the attacker to do something. He turned his head away, wanting to at least protect his head from whatever was going to happen. His body trembled hard, his teeth bared fearfully. He couldn’t bring himself to even use his injured arm to attack; it was pinned to the ground. Rudy took in several fast-moving breaths, hearing the attacker breathing heavily against his neck. Rudy waited for the blow to come.

And then…

“R-Rudy Tabootie?!” The voice breathed. “I-Is that you?!”

Rudy popped one of his eyes open. He looked up carefully at the one holding him down. It took him a few seconds to realize who this was. He immediately let out a sharp gasp and he felt his mind filling up with more emotions.

“Jacko?! What are you…” Rudy spoke. A few seconds later, he immediately started to cringe, turning his head away. He knew how this zoner felt about him. “A-Are you going to…?”

Jacko was silent, staring at him like he was seeing a ghost. It didn’t seem possible, but he looked like he was paling in shock. Then after a few moments, Jacko immediately let go of Rudy, backing away from him and staring at him wide-eyed. He turned his head up and down, tilting it to the side, frowning at Rudy in confusion. He moved his hand forward and pressed his claw against Rudy’s shoulder. When Rudy gave a yelp, the pumpkin-headed zoner moved his hand back. “So you are real… I thought you were… I thought the rumors….”

Rudy wasn’t sure what to say to this. He didn’t expect Jacko to react this way to finding him. Didn’t this zoner hate him? At least, that’s what he had thought. Penny had put that into his head, anyway. She had kept telling him stories about Jacko. There was a lot that she had told him, actually. Perhaps he should stop listening to what she was saying. He didn’t know why he was letting his emotions get the better of him.

Although it was difficult to forget that he had taken Jacko’s so-called ‘bride’ and he did remember Jacko was not very happy with him and...

Trying to regain some sense of this thoughts, Rudy said asked carefully, “What are you doing out here?”

Jacko seemed to take a little longer than he expected to give a response. “I should be asking you the same thing!” Jacko moved in closer. He grabbed onto Rudy’s shoulders and pulled him close. Rudy got an up close and personal view of Jacko’s glowing yellow orbs in his jagged sockets. “I am almost tempted to slice myself open to find out if I’m dreaming or not!”

Rudy grimaced at the image that this created. “Please don’t.”

Jacko let out a low ‘humph’ sound before letting Rudy go. He then put his hands against his hips and glared down at him, still being taller than the boy despite the years that had gone by. “So tell me, what are you doing here?”

“I believe I asked you first.” Said Rudy.

Jacko wagged his finger from side to side. “You tell me first. Then I will answer.”

Rudy frowned at the zoner before him. He couldn’t tell if Jacko was a ‘friend’ or enemy at this point. He had little to go off on. The last time he had ran into Jacko, their encounter had not exactly gone very well. He recalled how angry this pumpkin-headed zoner had been with him, and he had a feeling that some of that bitterness, even years later, still lingered around.

But keeping silent might not be the best course of action. He might entice Jacko’s aggressiveness that way. That was the last thing he wanted to do. But he still didn’t know what he should do.

“I’m waiting…”

Rudy nearly jumped when that voice suddenly pierced into his ears. He tilted his head up so that he could stare over at Jacko. He could see how the zoner was looking at him, his eyes furrowed as he waited for him to respond. Rudy could feel increased pressure upon him and he forced himself to swallow. He didn’t know how long it took him before he managed to regain his senses.

And when he did, he managed to squeak out, “I am being forced on a ‘quest’ to help Her Majesty gain some kind of unprecedented power.”

Jacko’s whole demeanor seemed to shift. He went from looking at him in a scrutinizing way to almost being horrified. He moved back, his hands flexing carefully. He looked around like he expected someone to come out from the shadows. Then he looked back down at Rudy. Slowly, his eyes narrowed once again. “So you are working for her then… I never thought that you would have…”

“What? I didn’t say that!” Rudy cried out. He folded his hands into small fists as he glared intently at Jacko. “She’s forcing me to do this! I would never want to help her on my own accord!”

“So you’re allowing her to pull your strings. Tsk tsk…” Jacko folded his arms to his chest and shook his head in disappointment. “I never thought that you would sink so low.”

Rudy could feel his body shaking. The main thing preventing him from moving forward to slap Jacko was the pain in his right leg. But also his rationality still clung in the back of his mind. He knew and understood that if he did try going after Jacko, he was not doing himself any favors. He was just going to further confirm the zoner’s suspicions of him, and therefore, making really difficult to get anything meaningful out of this guy.

So as hard as it was, Rudy had to try to keep himself calm. He couldn’t respond back with too much anger or force. He couldn’t let himself become what Jacko thinks that he was. He forced himself to straighten out his body. He forced his face to become softer, though he could feel how tense his facial muscles were. He stared into the zoner’s eyes, trying to make himself look a little taller. Then the man forced out a rigid exhale, symbolizing him attempting to let go of his tension.

Rudy said softly, “I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that I am doing any of this on purpose. Do you have any fucking clue what I’ve been through?” Rudy could feel his eyes starting to light up at this. He still forced himself to remain as under control as possible. With how calm his voice was, that made the next things that he said all the more eerie. “I’ve been locked away as the Chalk Queen’s personal slave. She has treated me like crap, forced me to live in constant fear, forced me to let her feed her to further increase her dominance…”

Jacko’s eyes narrowed a little further at this. But as Rudy continued, Jacko started to widen his eyes a little further.

“I had to live day in and day out not knowing what she was going to do. I never knew what day would be my last. Time had become meaningless to me. I don’t know how long exactly I was trapped. I just knew that I was getting bigger, older, as was Penny, and that was how I had to grow up. Try to imagine what that was like…” Rudy paused for a moment. Then he growled as he pointed a jabbing finger at Jacko. “Oh right, you can’t! Because you are a zoner and most of you zoners don’t know about the whirlwind that is growing up!”

Jacko cringed at this. The tall zoner started to move himself back from the human, like he was afraid that he was going to get attacked. Rudy moved in closer, in the moment, not really caring how much that he was scaring Jacko.

He needed to make sure that this zoner got the message crystal clear.

“Imagine going through a slow transformation, going from one thing into another. Imagine that you were locked into some place horrible for this time, where you are forced to endure being treated like you were just a little toy. Imagine being looked away in there for a long time, a countless amount of hours that you lose track of. Try to imagine randomly enduring pain, or being treated gently with the threat of being hurt looming over your head, with no knowledge of if or when it would happen.”

Jacko swallowed hard. His eyes looked like they were getting increasingly larger. He pulled his hands up, placing them out in front of himself. He gritted his carved teeth and his whole body seemed to be going tense. He gave what looked to be a weak smile, giving a low, barely audible chuckle. “N-Now… You don’t need to…. We can…”

Rudy tilted his head slightly, a smile spreading along his face, a crooked smile forming. He didn’t know what exactly was going on through his mind right now or why this was happening. But here he was, staring at the zoner in front of him in a rather creepy and unsettling way. Perhaps it was just the rising hidden emotions becoming too too strong. Regardless, he just kept going.

“Day in and day out, all I knew was fear and shattered determination. I always felt sick. I always felt like every day was going to be my last. I always felt that there was no way that I could get free. Yet I still held onto that belief. I was showered with constant disappointment and threats to my life.” Rudy could feel his voice growing colder as he continued. “And she would always tell me that Snap’s death was my fault. She hammered that in, giving me no reprieve, no relief from it. She said that my constant guilt was something that I deserved.”

Jacko started to move backwards. It was almost ironic and hilarious in a bitter sort of way to see the king of nightmares, or whatever he proclaimed himself to be, to push up against a nearby tree, cornered by a ‘regular old human’ like Rudy. Then again, considering his magic chalk, he could…

No, he was not going to waste it on someone like Jacko. However, that didn’t mean that he was done quite yet. There was still something else that he wanted to say to him.

Rudy grabbed onto Jacko’s collar that his cape was attached to and yanked him forward. He put his face close to his and hissed, “Don’t you ever, ever, fucking dare try to tell me that I would work willingly for the Chalk Queen. Not after what she has done to me and this world… I want nothing to do with her and this is the one chance that I have to take her out.”

Jacko spluttered, “I-I don’t understand…”

Rudy sighed. He let his grip on the zoner go. He took a few steps back and he said, “If I were to do this for her, she did say that she was willing to participate in a duel with me. Alone. One on one.” Rudy felt his teeth pressing harder against each other. “I don’t want to lose that chance. I just..can’t.. I…”

“So you are going to kill the Chalk Queen?”

Rudy could feel his body freezing at this statement. He could feel a cold chill rushing through his body like ice was being injected into him. He slowly turned his head to stare at the zoner before him. He could feel his eyes slowly blinking, his mind spinning as though he was going on the worst sugar rush of his life.

He couldn’t even bring himself to speak after that statement. All he could do was stare at Jacko with wide eyes and an open mouth, struggling to breathe. He couldn’t believe that he would even… But then again, would he…?

Rudy could feel himself becoming torn between the choices. He wanted to say no, and that was still his primary answer. But he also knew that if he killed her, she would not be able to do anything again. She wouldn’t hurt anyone anymore. That brought with it all sorts of legal trouble, though. He didn’t know what the zoners would think or what would happen in the Real World. Would his family even understand his actions if he were to take them? Or would they just look at him like he was some kind of a monster?

And what of himself? Could he bring himself to go that far? Would he be able to forgive himself if he treaded on that kind of ground? He could feel his stomach churning and twisting at the thought. He felt his mind burning deeply, his thoughts burrowing deep into his head, his heart pounding loudly.

He knew that he had to come up with some kind of answer. He didn’t want to delay this. He didn’t want Jacko to think that he was hiding something. He just didn’t know what to say. How could he respond to that kind of question? It sound so final and…

Rudy had to work harder for a longer period of time than he would have liked. But he did eventually come up with some kind of answer to Jacko’s question.

“...we will see…”

Jacko stared at him more intensely than before. Rudy could feel the air around him moving about. He tried his best to hold still, his fingers pressing into each other against his palm. Then after what felt like a grueling many hours, Jacko said, “Then come with me.”

Rudy almost cringed back away when the zoner said that line. He could almost feel the bitterness and emotion flowing forward. It was like the zoner was telling him the years of his hard, horrible work through just a singular sigh. Rudy remained where he stood for a couple more moments, and then he got himself to start following the zoner close behind.

sss

The large jellybean zoner grumbled to himself. He licked his tongue over his crooked teeth slowly as he continued to make his way forward. He could feel his legs tiring out from all the walking and running that he needed to do. He raised his hand up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked around for a few moments before he trudged forward. Regret was already clawing its way into his throat and mind.

Why did he even agree to this? It wasn’t like the Chalk Queen gave him much direction. She didn’t bother ensuring that he would know exactly where Rudy was going to be or when he would be in one of the designated locations. He thought he had heard him, but it was probably just random wild animal moving about on the ground. Besides, far as he could tell, he didn’t even reach the first spot yet. He hoped that he would arrive soon.

Skrawl didn’t expect the tree branch in front of him to whack him when he got too close. He let out a cry of pain and backed away, putting his hands over his eyes and trying to claw out the splinters that wedged themselves around his eyes. Once he managed to get all of that out, he turned to glare at the tree in front of him.

Before he could give the tree zoner a good talking to, he soon realized that it wasn’t really alive. At least not like him. Turned out that its branches were falling off and he was just unlucky enough to get hit by it. Well that was…

Wait.. what if Rudy was involved….?

It would be just like that chalk boy to pull crap like this.

Skrawl paused himself at this realization. He struggled not to let himself growl too loudly, lest Rudy was somewhere watching this. That is, if he was truly responsible for this. Maybe he was just getting worked up over nothing. Perhaps Rudy didn’t really do anything. He was probably hiding somewhere, trying to defend himself from the creatures that roamed in those lands.

He couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly. Even if Rudy did pull some crap on him, the fact that Rudy was going to be faced up with creatures, and not having any protection from that ring, was more than enough to satisfy Skrawl. It truly made him wonder just how he was going to react when he finds out it was all a lie. That thought alone was starting to make it, to him, almost worth it to go out and find the little brat faster.

But he had to pace himself. Craniac was to help deal with him as well and he couldn’t let the two of them get too caught up in all of this together. It might make Rudy realize what was going on. If he figured it out, then he might take action sooner and complicate things more.

Skrawl already had some ideas on what he would do with Rudy. He couldn’t go up to him upfront, and neither could Craniac, for obvious reasons. But both of them could do something from afar. They could both taunt and mess with Rudy in their own ways. Skrawl could feel himself starting to smile twistedly at the thought. It was going to be a lot of fun toying with the little brat.

Skrawl paused to think of what Craniac was going to do. He had a feeling that he was going to use those robots of his. How pathetic.... He wished that this zoner would try something different. The robots were too obvious. If Rudy were to realize it...

Ah, what did it matter, anyway? It wasn’t like Rudy only had them to deal with. He and Craniac were just part of this whole thing. Rudy would also have to deal with the wildlife and the other obstacles, all of which dangerous. Rudy would also have Penny to contend with at the end. That was how Penny had planned it, after all. Let Rudy get weak but still survive his trip. Then once he came back with that spark chalk, Penny could be finish him off. He would stand no chance, and his blood would be shed.

As Skrawl thought about this with amusement, he stopped and he looked around. He thought he could hear the sound of something scratching against stone. He took a few steps forward, trying to see if he could figure out where this thing was coming from. He couldn’t let himself lose sight of it, now could he? Perhaps it could be useful.

With that, the zoner suddenly stopped in front of something. He lifted his head up slowly, staring up and down at the rotten tree in front of him. He could see that there was something scurrying up the bark. Sleek and dull in color and...

Skrawl could feel his eyes starting to glint. This would be perfect.

sss

The air around her felt so cold and chilly. She couldn’t stop shivering, no matter how hard that she tried. She raised her arms up and started to rub them along her skin, trying to use friction to help her become at least somewhat warm. That didn’t seem to do much, though, as she still continued to feel cold, like some large ice cube was being rubbed up against her skin repeatedly.

Sophie didn’t know how long she and Rapsheeba were walking here. This place wasn’t really cold, but it felt cold. It was a weird, contradictory thing that she could not explain. She tried not to let it bother her too much, though. She forced herself to keep heading forward. It was the only thing that she could do.

Sophie looked around herself slowly. The two of them were walking in some kind of bizarre swamp. She forgot what the little zoner had called it. But it was apparently important enough that the zoner forced her to keep running with her, regardless of how she felt about it. They ran so much, she thought for sure that she should have been sweating hot by now. Maybe the intense feelings about being in an unknown place and learning that it was dangerous was enough to combat the uncomfortable heat.

Sophie let out a small grunt when she stepped into something wet and sticky. She looked down and saw that they were entering some sea of thick mud. She looked over at Rapsheeba and tried to open her mouth to speak. But there was no point in saying anything, she realized. Rapsheeba was deliberately heading in this direction.

“Are we really....” Sophie started to say as she looked on warily.

Rapsheeba turned and looked over her shoulder. “It’s this way. The entrance is hidden.”

Sophie blinked a few times. “What entrance?”

Rapsheeba replied, “I’ve heard rumors that Jacko has taken a lot of zoners and hidden them under this mud, away from the Chalk Queen’s sights.”

Although Sophie was tempted to ask about this ‘Jacko’ person, there was something else that caught her attention. With her eyes narrowing further, she hissed, “If it’s just a rumor, doesn’t that mean that this is all just a big waste of time? It might not even be there!”

“Girl, the zoners I heard this from wouldn’t lie about it.” Rapsheeba glared at her, looking like she was getting pissed off herself. Sophie cringed a little at this, which seemed to make Rapsheeba see that she was going a little too far. Letting out a sigh, she said, “Look kid, it’s not that much further. You’ll get filthy, I know. But that is better than risking getting caught, isn’t it?”

Sophie forced out, “I...suppose so...”

Despite trying to sound as confident as possible, Rapsheeba could see right through her tone. She could see the zoner furrowing her eyes slightly, placing her hand on her hip. Then she said, “Look, it’s going to be fine. Just keep following me, okay?”

Sophie forced herself to nod. She swallowed hard and she forced herself to walk forward slowly. She could feel the mud getting increasingly thicker and she could feel her legs trying to move through it. Each step seemed increasingly difficult to take. She almost fell forward once or twice. But despite the difficulty, she somehow managed to stay close behind Rapsheeba.

Then they stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Sophie kept silent and watched Rapsheeba carefully. The small zoner had her head turned down, staring at the swirling mud beneath her feet. She pushed her legs apart as though trying to separate the mud enough to see something. Then she lifted her leg up and swirled it around slowly and then stomped it down. Raising her eyebrow in confusion, Sophie was about to ask what the heck that was about.

But then the ground started to rumble.

Waving her arms about, Sophie shouted, “What the heck is going on?!”

Rapsheeba raised her hand up to pause her from doing anything further. “Just wait and let it go through. It’s okay. The door is opening up.”

“How can...”

“Shh! Just watch!”

Sophie wasn’t sure what Raspheeba was waiting for. It felt like the ground was splitting open and it could swallow them up. Shouldn’t they get running now before it was too late? Rapsheeba didn’t even know where this hideout was. For all she knew, this could be a trap set up by this Jacko person to catch anyone that tried to break in.

But despite that possibility, Rapsheeba didn’t budge. She stared at the circular pattern being created before her, looking a little too confident in this whole thing. It caused Sophie’s body to fill up with uneasiness and she wanted to step back. She didn’t know why she suddenly couldn’t move her feet. She slowly turned her gaze upon the mud and how it kept swirling faster and faster. It almost looked like it was going to suck her in at any moment.

Then she saw that something was starting to appear. The mud seemed to almost expand outward, raising up slightly as if by magic, and at the base of all of this, she could see what looked to be a small...plug? No, it wasn’t a plug. But just what was it...

Her thoughts were cut off with the object suddenly glowed brightly. It shined in her eyes and forced her to look away. She had to shield them for a moment. She could hear a loud ‘bling’ sound and the flash of light was gone. Looking over, she could see what looked to be a small, tall, rounded elevator situated in that spot. Sophie blinked a few times as she stared at this thing, wondering just what it actually was and what it was going to do.

Rapsheeba was already inside of it. That was fast. She didn’t even bother checking if it was safe or not. The zoner looked over at her and motioned her hand quickly to get her to follow. Sophie hesitated, but she found herself being pulled forward, her leg movements more free now that the mud was out of the way.

Once Sophie was inside of the thing, Rapsheeba immediately pushed the small red button behind her. Sophie flinched as there was a loud ‘shing’ sound shutting them inside this thing. Then it started to lower itself down into a dark tunnel. Sophie could feel shadows moving over her, coating her last bit of light that she could see. In pitch darkness, the sound of the mud returning to its previous position caused goosebumps to spread along her skin.

Sophie could feel some wobbliness all around her, and she started to wonder if this thing was steady or not. She couldn’t see anything and she felt herself pressing against the side of this elevator thing. She could see a few flashes of light, but they weren’t lasting long enough to really illuminate anything. She could feel it turning and jerking about and she thought she was inside some truck driving to an unknown destination...below herself.

Then the capsule-like thing just stopped altogether. It was so sudden that she felt herself being thrown forward. She could feel her head hitting against it hard, and she could feel echoes of pain surging through her head. She rubbed her hand against her forehead and seethed through clenched teeth. It took her a few moments to recover from this as she lifted her head up to see the doors opening up with a squeaking sound. Rapsheeba was already heading out.

“Come on, this should be the place.” Rapsheeba told her.

Sophie still felt cautious about this whole thing. But it was too late to head back now. The elevator thing shut and already headed upwards. It didn’t look like there was a way to get back up from here, leading her to suspect the exit was elsewhere. With that realization in mind, she realized that she had no choice but to keep walking forward.

She and Rapsheeba headed down the tunnel before them. It had some small lights on the side, bright yellow in color, but it was still pretty dark here. The tunnels themselves looked rigid, like they were crudely dug out by some kind of large animal. Given how strange and bizarre this world was, that could very well have been the case.

Sophie constantly rubbed her hands along her arms, trying to keep herself warm. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt so cold down here. Maybe it was because they were so far underground that there was little warmth here? Did they have anything here to heat this place up? Perhaps she could draw a...

Sophie was stopped before she could finish that thought. She noticed that Rapsheeba had held her arm outwards, signalling to her to stop walking. Sophie did so, looking down at the zoner in confusion, biting her lip. She lifted her head up and she tried to look around for something. But all she could see was just more emptiness. What was the zoner stopping for?

Then she noticed there was some kind of pattering on the ground. Footsteps, and they were getting closer. Sophie felt herself stiffen hard like a rock, immediately wondering if something had followed them down in here. She instinctively moved behind Rapsheeba, hoping that the little zoner had a better idea of what was going on than she did.

A shadow stretched along the floor, making Sophie cringing further. She could feel her neck almost sinking into her body, like it was trying to protect itself from being attacked. She had to force herself to keep walking, not allowing herself to stop for anything. She stared out ahead, her eyes a bit wide, her tongue licking her lips slowly, both having been dried out. Then the shadow shortened up and she could see something coming out and...

“Oh Rapsheeba, it’s you!” A cheery voice called.

“Blocky! It’s good to see you!” Rapsheeba rushed over. “I thought you had been...!”

“Heheheh... I’m not that easy to get rid of!” Blocky replied cheekily.

Rapsheeba shook her head. “I am going to take a guess and say that Jacko’s built up your confidence a little too much.”

“Well now that you say that...”

Sophie watched the two zoners speak to one another. Her eyes remained on Blocky. She was struggling to figure out just what the heck he was and how he worked. Blocky was some kind of square thing with arms and legs stuck out the sharp edges. His mouth looked all wonky and he was so flat....so two-dimensional... How the fuck did he even work?

Regardless, she remained silent while he and Rapsheeba had their chat. She didn’t want to be rude and interrupt. Not like there was any place that he could go in here, anyway. She folded her arms to her chest and waited. She caught a few things of what they were saying, but she couldn’t make sense of it. She didn’t know most of the terms that they were using.

But she did understand the last bit.

“So who is this? A new human? She’s not the....”

“No, Blocky. She’s not the Chalk Queen.” Rapsheeba shook her head slowly. She then motioned towards Sophie and said, “This is Rudy’s cousin, Sophie.”

Blocky mouthed that word slowly. “Sophie...?” He furrowed his eyes for a bit. “Now where have I heard that...” Suddenly his eyes seemed to almost brighten up. He whipped his head around to face Sophie. He moved so fast, she nearly fell backwards. “Hey, Sophie! Do you remember me?”

Sophie furrowed her eyes. “I-I know you...?”

Blocky nodded his head.

Sophie slowly tilted her head to one side. She struggled to think of just where she could have seen this guy before. There was no way that he could have seen him. She was never here before. She couldn’t...

But then, didn’t she have a taste of deju vu earlier? She was feeling that again. It crawled in the back of her head and lingered there. It felt like someone took a large rock and shoved it inside of her skull. She couldn’t shake the feeling off no matter what she tried.

All the while, Blocky was looking at her almost pleadingly, like he really wanted her to remember him. Sophie felt the desire to appease him by saying yes, but she could not be sincere with that statement. She could only just speak the truth. Or in this case, silently nod her head shakingly.

“What?” Blocky’s face fell. “I-I thought you would have at least recognized me! I...”

Rapsheeba placed her hand on Blocky. “She was so little at the time.”

At this, Sophie looked up at the zoners, her eyes blinking rapidly. “What do you mean?” She swallowed, feeling as though something was struggling to come out, yet frozen where her neck was. “A-Are you saying that I was here before?”

Blocky nodded his head swiftly. “Yeah! That’s right! You fell into this world when you were....smaller....and you were running around this place making scribbles and Rudy was trying to get you back!”

“Rudy was trying to get me out? He knew that I was here?” Sophie asked slowly, her words growing slightly rigid as realization rapidly dawned on her.

Blocky didn’t seem to notice the tone of her voice. “He was so relieved when he got you home safe and sound!” He pointed to his face. “You ran into me before Rudy caught up with you. Scribbled on me. I think you drew on some other zoners as well.”

Sophie couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t believe that she had been in this world before, and Rudy knew about it. She couldn’t believe that Rudy never even told her about this place. She was already upset with him before when she learned that this is where he had been sneaking off to. But to deliberately hide the fact that she herself had been in this world.... That added onto what she knew was enough to make her hand clench tightly.

“Sophie...?” Blocky spoke up. He reached his hand out towards her. “A-Are you...?”

Rapsheeba cut him off. “She needs time. Besides, we need to talk to Jacko. Do you know where he is?”

Blocky thought for a moment, and then said, “Yeah, he’s...”

Suddenly there was a thud behind them. A loud whistle as a set of doors opened up. Someone had used the elevator. Sophie slowly turned her head to look behind her. In the corner of her eye, she could see...

“....Soph?!”

“....Rudy...”


End file.
